The Colombian singer Shakira inaugurated a school this weekend in one of the poorest neighborhoods in her native Barranquilla (Colombia) with the support of the 'la Caixa' Foundation and the FC Barcelona Foundation. This is the Nuevo Bosque Pies Descalzos District Educational Institution, with which she hopes to impact and provide education to more than a thousand children each year in this community that lives with socioeconomic inequalities.
With an investment of more than 16,000 million Colombian pesos (about 3.8 million euros), the school consists of 22 regular classrooms, four preschool classrooms, two laboratories, art classrooms, library, dining room, kitchen and other common spaces so that students and the community can take advantage of them.
“What we have learned with the foundation (Pies Descalzos) is that every time a school is built, the entire community is transformed; "We have been in sectors where there was no drinking water or the streets were unpaved, there was no electricity, and this type of infrastructure somehow transforms the entire society," said the singer.
So far, Shakira has built nine schools with her foundation in the most depressed areas of Colombia, although she assured that “we must continue working.” The artist invited the Government of Colombia and the private sector to “join in and continue donating” so that education can be brought to all corners of the Colombian geography. “On behalf of myself and my Pies Descalzos Foundation, I express my immense gratitude and pride in having allies and friends such as the Mayor's Office of Barranquilla, the 'la Caixa' Foundation, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the LCI Educational Foundation to fulfill a new dream and continue supporting girls, boys and young people in the city,” he highlighted.
The singer, who performed at the MTV Video Music Awards where she won the Video Vanguard award, explained to the media that “life is a constant addition and subtraction, people leave your life but new spaces open up, perhaps new energies.” "Those who have to stay stay and from there you add up."
“This last year has been very hard for me personally, professionally, life has compensated me and my fans have taken care of that,” he added in reference to his separation at the beginning of the year from his ex-partner and father of his children. children, Gerard Piqué.
The Barranquilla native had always thought she was fragile, in her words, but she comes out stronger after a complicated year: “I have many reasons now to fight, many more than before.” However, and despite the success that her songs have achieved throughout the year, she said that she does not yet have a set date for the release of her new album, of which she has nine songs ready. What she is clear about is that she feels great desire and is very motivated to continue making and recording music, and that she hopes to go on another tour in 2024.
The artist has also been in the news this weekend for offering a preview of El Jefe, the new song that can be heard in full on Wednesday the 20th. In the single she collaborates with the American regional Mexican music group Fuerza Regida and some followers already They have linked the lyrics again to Piqué: “You are dreaming of leaving the neighborhood / You have everything to be a millionaire / Expensive tastes, the mentality / You only lack the salary.”
