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Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken answered your questions as this month's featured celebrity.

Ask This Month's Celebrity: Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken: An American Idol on a Mission

As a pop singer, American Idol fan favorite Clay Aiken is often on tour. His latest tour, however, had nothing to do with music. Aiken recently returned from a tour of schools in Afghanistan, where he launched a campaign for UNICEF, the United Nations Children Fund. The campaign, "$100,000 in 10 Days," aims to raise money for lifesaving programs that UNICEF runs for children in that war-torn country.

"As a former teacher, I recognize that spark of hope and excitement all children possess when given the opportunity to learn," said Aiken, who spent five days traveling between Kabul and Bamyan in the central region of Afghanistan. "Rebuilding schools, training teachers, providing essential supplies and teaching materials are just some of the advances UNICEF and its partners have made to keep that hope flourishing."

To date, UNICEF has helped distribute teaching and learning materials to 2.71 million children and 61,780 teachers in Afghanistan. The U.N. agency was also part of a push to enroll 195,878 children in school. Most of them were girls, who previously had no access to education. UNICEF supports school protection teams in 34 Afghan provinces where school safety is threatened. It has also recruited thousands of new teachers, and people to train teachers.

Being on American Idol changed Clay Aiken's life. Now he's using his fame to help change the lives of others for the better. "My music career has allowed me to do the same thing I was doing before—work with kids with disabilities," says Aiken. "It has given me a big stage to talk about the same things I always cared about … to work toward enacting change on a much larger scale."

Fast Facts about Clay Aiken

Clay Aiken was born Nov. 30, 1978.
Clay Aiken still lives in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Before appearing on American Idol, he was a teacher working with autistic children.
Aiken was the second-place winner of the second season of American Idol (2003).
In 2003, he created the Bubel/Aiken Foundation to promote and fund educational and recreational programs for children with special needs.
Clay Aiken has released three CDs. His first, Measure of a Man, was released in 2003 and went triple-platinum. His second, Merry Christmas With Love, released in 2004, was the best-selling holiday album of the year. His third, A Thousand Different Ways, released in 2006, is a collection of love songs.
In 2004, his inspirational biography, Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, reached number two on The New York Times bestsellers list.
In 2004, Aiken was appointed as an ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, to raise awareness of the plight of children around the world and raise funds for UNICEF programs that help them.
Aiken's work for UNICEF has included raising funds for victims of the South Asian tsunami in 2005 and for victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He has traveled to Uganda to highlight the plight of children caught in that country's civil war. He has also traveled to the Middle East, first to Lebanon and most recently to Afghanistan, to promote UNICEF programs for children affected by war.
Clay won the 2007 Children's Advocacy Award from the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Find out more about Clay Aiken at www.clayaiken.com

About UNICEF
Founded in 1946, UNICEF helps save, protect and improve the lives of children in 156 countries. It provides immunization, education, health care, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. For more information about UNICEF please visit www.unicefusa.org or call 1-800-4UNICEF.