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*Kenyan police and bodyguards kept journalists from speaking to Alicia Keys Thursday as she visited facilities in the country that are funded through Keep a Child Alive, a charitable organization committed to assisting HIV patients in Africa.
The Grammy winner, who is supporting the project along with Oprah Winfrey, got a first hand look at how the money was being used at a pediatric HIV clinic at the Coast Provincial Hospital in Mombasa, 275 miles southeast of the capital, Nairobi, reports AP.
Some 400 children are currently benefiting from the program, which gives them access to free anti-retroviral drugs, said Dr. Anderson Kahindi, head of the clinic, adding that Keys had been buying the drugs herself and shipping them directly to the hospital since 2004.
"She learned about the plight of children from a medical doctor who used to work at the hospital and is now studying in the U.S. After the tour of the hospital she will also visit selected homes of the children who are undergoing treatment to find out how they are responding," Kahindi told AP.
Reps for the singer said Keys did not grant interviews because she considered the trip to be a private visit. However, privacy quickly became non-existent, as news of her visit to the hospital spread quickly and fans flocked to the site in hopes of catching a glimpse of her. Kenyan security guards had a difficult time trying to block people from getting too close.
Later Thursday, Keys was scheduled to unveil a commemorative plaque, plant a tree and address the local community at the Bomu Medical Clinic, on the outskirts of Mombasa.
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