John Legend Champions Charity in Africa

Oct. 6, 2007 — -- R&B singer John Legend isn't in Africa to perform his song "Show Me" but to champion his charity group: the Show Me campaign.

The organization aims to eradicate poverty in African villages. The Grammy winner was moved to action after reading "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey Sachs. The book helped him realize how much money it would take to have an impact on extreme poverty.

Now he has teamed with the author to learn how Sachs' own poverty-fighting organization, Millennium Promise, works in destitute African villages.

The Show Me Campaign's philosophy is based on Millennium Promise's -- integrating development programs that address problems ranging from proper hygiene to education to farming techniques to clean drinking water. Legend calls it a comprehensive program that tackles the issues that contribute to a poverty trap that villages can't escape.

Legend will visit various villages in Tanzania, Kenya and Nigeria, where Millennium Promise has begun successful pilot programs. It's a vision trip of sorts for Legend and the Show Me campaign, which is in its infant stages.

"Our specific goal is to fund the village in Tanzania and others that we're visiting," Legend told ABC News. "And the program is a five-year program to raise $1.5 million to fund it, and we've already raised a few hundred thousand dollars."

The project has been funded with income from charity events and online donations from fans.

Legend said the money will flow to the right resources. "It doesn't give cash," he said. "It does things like buy fertilizer, or set up Internet connections or buy malaria bed nets or have scientists come in and help them clean their drinking water and make sure it's healthy."

He said there is no corruption because the money is trackable and the results have been good.

In a country of plenty and waste, Legend hopes that his fans will become aware of the dire situation beyond the borders of the United States.

"Some people will say with some justification that we have a lot of problems here at home that we still need to solve," said Legend. "But I don't believe you have to choose between Americans and Africans or between Americans and folks in Afghanistan or Cambodia and Laos. I think we're all human beings and every life is valuable and poverty anywhere is something we should address."