Shakira uses fame to help the poor, eyes motherhood

By Cyntia Barrera Diaz

MEXICO CITY (Reuters Life!) - Colombian singer Shakira is using her fame as a top-selling artist and hip-swiveling dancer to help poor Latin American children but she also has her heart set on a new role - mother to her own children.

"I want two," Skakira told Reuters on Thursday at an event to promote her charity, the ALAS Foundation (which stands for Latin America in Solidarity Action when translated into English) that was set up in 2006 to help needy Latin American children.

But asked when she would like to start a family, she laughed nervously and said: "That's a good question."

Shakira, 31, has been dating Antonio de la Rua, the son of a former Argentine president, for nearly eight years, with swarms of photographers constantly tailing the celebrity couple looking for hints about a possible wedding.

Shakira is the biggest-selling Spanish singer of all time, having sold more than 50 million albums in English and Spanish worldwide, and wants to use her fame to raise awareness about the extreme poverty affecting millions of Latin American children.

Recently she visited British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to talk about third world education and also went to Capitol Hill in Washington to urge U.S. Congress to approve more spending to help send the world's poor children to school.

"There are 40 million children in Latin America who have no access to any kind of development program, who receive no stimulation, nutrition or education and need to be nurtured and taken care of," she said in an interview with Reuters.

"Artists have a tremendous power to communicate, to reach people, to woo, to inspire. It's an important and fundamental part of my life to be able to use my public profile to make certain issues visible, issues that are more important than my own career, that are more urgent and need immediate attention."