Críticas Magazine

Adriana V. Lopez

Shakira, Santillana, Bare Feet, Rock& Roll
May 17, 2008

With hips that never lie, Shakira should perhaps be called Santa Shakira. And it's not for the gyration, but for all the good she’s doing for the poor children around the world. This week she got the Spanish publishing house Santillana to sign an agreement with her foundation, “Pies descalzos” (Bare Feet, like the name of her album) to assist her in seeing that 5,500 children from her native Colombia receive an equal education to the standards that young Europeans today receive. They call it the EFQM, a model of educational excellence that stands for the European Foundation for the Management of Quality. (I'm translating). The agreement would benefit three regions of Colombian schools: The northern city of Baranquilla (Shakria’s native city), Quibdó, the capital of the western Chocó region, and Bogotá. Shakira created the foundation in the mid 90’s to kick start a movement towards better nutrition and education standards for the children of the world.

She hasn’t stopped there either. Less than a month ago she asked the U.S. Congress to approve a bill that would provide $10, 000 million in five years to helps poor countries mount education programs for children. She said that, “70 million children don’t attend school throughout the world. 226 million adolescents can’t attend high school." Let’s hope the U.S. comes through.

And as if her halo wasn’t shining brightly already….after Santa Shakira launched the foundation ALAS (the acronym means "wings" in Spanish) back in 2006  with the support of Gabo and Spanish pop singers Miguel Bose and Alejandro Sanz amongst others, the Fundación América Latina Acción Solidaria (ALAS, without the “F”), will hold two huge benefit concerts in Buenos Aires and Mexico City tonight with the Latin music’s biggest names. You can see it online on their website if you aren't already going. This week ALAS also got a $200 million dollar donation from Mexico’s richest man Carlos Slim and the U.S. high roller, Howard Buffett.  Not Shakira, that's Santa Shakira.

Posted by Adriana V. Lopez on May 17, 2008 | Comments (2)