PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Haitian-American rap star Wyclef Jean has visited a Haitian boys prison, part of his continuing charitable work in his impoverished homeland.
The boys in the prison on the outskirts of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, were given sneakers and T-shirts by Jean's charity, Yele-Haiti, Haitian radio reported Monday.
The former member of the popular rap group The Fugees often returns to his native Haiti where he has created several non-profit organizations aimed at helping the nation's poor.
Earlier this month, Jean lashed out at a recent report suggesting AIDS arrived in the United States by way of Haiti, the report said.
Jean, whose parents moved him to the United States from Haiti when he was 9, said that Haiti should not be made the "scapegoat" for AIDS in America.
"AIDS is a worldwide illness that does not discriminate. Making Haiti the scapegoat only gets in the way of world progress in AIDS research," he said.
Some 200,000 Haitians out of more than 6 million are believed to infected with HIV/AIDS.
