This Is What Shakira Is Most Proud Of
As Shakira demonstrated last night at the Pepsi Super Bowl LIV Halftime Show, her hips really don’t lie. She and Jennifer Lopez gave a thrilling performance that had been highly anticipated and did not disappoint.
Though she’s famous as a hip-gyrating, high-energy musician and artist, a lesser-known fact about the 43-year-old is her tireless work in global early childhood education.
Find out more about the beautiful and philanthropic star’s important work.
The moment Shakira realized education was important to overcome poverty
Shakira was born and raised in the port city of Barranquilla, Colombia, a city that has seen its share of deep poverty. This has improved in recent years, thanks to better governance and grassroots efforts like those of Shakira’s.
“I grew up in the developing world, I grew up seeing injustice,” she told The New York Times in 2009. “I grew up in the middle of a severe social crisis, left and right wings fighting with each other, people in the middle caught in the crossfire. I’ve seen millions of people displaced in Colombia.”
“But I’ve also seen that, in countries like mine, when a child is born poor, he will die poor, unless he receives an opportunity. That opportunity is education. It’s that helping hand that they’re looking for. Latin America is a young continent, it’s malleable, it’s flexible. We still can change.”
Her sons’ education is a high priority
The performer’s two children with her partner Gerard Piqué, Milan, 6, and Dante, 4, are taught various languages. The Whenever, Wherever pop star doesn’t play around when it comes to her children’s education. She got them started early, even before they officially started school.
Hollywood.com reported in 2014 that the singer tweeted to a fan, “Any child can learn languages before they’re three – we expose Milan to Spanish, Catalan, English, French, German, Russian and Chinese.”
“Babies have an innate thirst for knowledge and enjoy learning. Kids are able to comprehend more than we think – it’s never too early to start teaching and exposing them to books even as newborns.”
Her Piez Descalzos (Bare Feet) Foundation
The Waka Waka singer’s Pies Descalzos Foundation (Bare Feet Foundation), a project towards which the singer is intensely dedicated, was established in 1997 with the goal of helping children living in poverty. The organization provides crucial charter schools to ensure a good education for every child.
In 2016, Shakira got word that her organization’s school received the enormous honor of being named the No. 1 public school in all of Colombia.
She released a statement at the time saying, “Right now I’m in the middle of shooting something but I have just received incredible news and I want to take a pause to celebrate it.”
“Every year in Colombia they create a list where they choose the best public and private schools according to their Saber test results,” she continued. “And guess who leads the list? Fundación Pies Descalzos in Barranquilla!”
Read more: Shakira’s Surprisingly Doable Super Bowl 2020 Diet and Workout
