It appears that diva and former The Voice coach Christina Aguilera has a humanitarian side and she recently embarked on an Ecuador Hunger Relief trip, visiting the country that her father hailed from for the first time.
Aguilera has already gone to Haiti, Rwanda and Guatemala on relief trips to help impoverished communities but had yet to travel to Ecuador.
The trip was comprised of the singer visiting schools and helping to provide meals for children who have a long, hard road in order to even get there. But there were deeper reasons behind her emotional connection to the journey and she personally chose Ecuador from a list of countries provided to her.
"This particular trip was sort of extra-special for me because it is my blood and heritage. My father was born in Ecuador and my grandfather was horn in Quito, which is the city I stayed in. And we would drive out into the fields, which were hours away by car and into the farmland and sort of refugee areas where people are struggling," she said to the Associated Press on Monday (Sept. 28).
"I definitely had always wanted to go visit where my dad comes from, the culture, you know, not having sort of a consistent relationship at all in my life with him and not really knowing him as I've gotten older through the years as well," she said. "You know, there's a history there. But, you know, it is a part of my blood and a part of my heritage and a part of my people."
Billboard reported that she shot a public service announcement that will alert communities on hunger awareness, set to be released in October for Yum! Brands Inc. (the umbrella company for Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC), which developed their hunger relief initiative has already raised $600 million towards their cause, in addition to food for organizations such as the United Nation's World Food Programme. According to People, Aguilera has been their spokesman since 2009.
