Shakira opens a school in her native Barranquilla

Colombian singer Shakira This Saturday, he inaugurated a school in one of the most depressed and unsafe neighborhoods in his hometown Barranquillawhere he assured that he felt “inspired, eager and strong to move forward”although there is currently no release date for the new album.

Shakira inaugurated in Barranquilla Nuevo Bosque Pies Descalzos District Educational Institutionwith which he hopes to influence and educate more than a thousand children each year in this community that lives with socioeconomic inequalities.

This school, in which more than 16,000 million Colombian pesos (about 4 million dollars)consists of 22 regular classrooms, 4 preschool classrooms, two laboratories, art classrooms, library, dining room, kitchen and other common spaces for students and the community to use.

“What we learned with the foundation (Pies Descalzos) is that every time a school is built, the whole community is transformed; we were 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 whole society,” the Colombian celebrated.

So far, with her foundation, the singer has built nine schools in the most depressed areas of Colombia, although she assured that “we must continue to work” and they are building more in Quibdó (Chocó), in Barranquilla (Atlántico) and in Tibú (North de Santander), as well as academic centers in the department of La Guajira.

The singer, who performed at MTV Video Music Awards where he won the “Video Vanguard” award, he explained at the press conference that “life is a constant addition and subtraction, people leave your life, but new spaces open up, maybe new energies, those who have to stay stay. and from there you add up. ”

“This last year has been very difficult for me personally, professionally, my life has caught up and my fans have taken care of that,” he added regarding the controversial separation that took place at the beginning of the year from his ex-partner. and the father of her children, a Spanish player Gerard Pique.

The native of Barranquilla always thought she was fragile, she says, but she comes out stronger after a complicated year: “Now I have many reasons to fight, much more than before.”

However, despite the success that his songs have achieved throughout the year, he said that he does not yet have a set date for the release of the new album, on which he already has 9 songs ready. What she is clear about is that she feels very eager and motivated to continue making and recording music, and that she hopes to “go on tour again” next year.

In the end, the singer called Government of Colombia and the private sector to “join and continue to donate” so that education can be brought to all corners of Colombia’s geography.

“On behalf of myself and on behalf of my Pies Descalzos Foundation, I express immense gratitude and pride to have allies and friends such as the Office of the Mayor of Barranquilla, the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation, the FC Barcelona Foundation and the LCI Educational Foundation to fulfill a new dream and continue to support girls, young men and women in the city,” he concluded.