Shakira

Jahir Castillo, a 13 year old boy from Barranquilla (Colombia), is happy with the new school that Fundación Pies Descalzos (Shakira’s Foundation) began to build on Tuesday, in a poor neighborhood of Barranquilla. For him, the new school means he will no longer have to walk a long distance to go to school, and that his pants won’t be filled with mud.

“We won’t have to go so far to get to the school, over there, because of the bus station. It will be closer, because when we get out our pants get dirty with mud, because the floor is flooded whenever it rains, so, with the (new) school we are going to arrive clean”, said Jahir.

The third Pies Descalzos (Barefoot Feet) school, which first stone was placed on Tuesday by the Foundation (and the sixth in which the Foundation is involved in some degree) is located in a marginal zone with a high percentage of population displaced by violence, and it will receive 5.000 children since 2008.

The land yielded for the school by Barranquilla’s government (Shakira’s birthplace) cost about U$S 430.000; the school building will cost 1,5 million dollars. An extra U$S 439.000 will be required for the school’s equipment - furniture, books, school supplies, etc.

The innovative design, donated by the famous Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly, includes classrooms, a public library (which will resemble a light house because of its height), computing, music and dance rooms, along with sports and recreational fields. Unlike the other schools of the Foundation, this one will be focused on culture.

The first Pies Descalzos school opened its doors in 2003 in Quibdó, capital of the western department of Chocó, in the Colombian pacific coast. Two other schools are in Barranquilla and the last two in Bogota, the Colombian capital. All of them are located in poor neighborhoods.

Source (In Spanish)

Shakira, Fundación, Pies Descalzos, Foundation, School, Charity, Social Work, News, Colombia, Barranquilla