Colombian pop icon Shakira paid a surprise visit to an earthquake-hit region of her home country on Monday, pledging to help rebuild schools and a university, as per .
The singer toured damaged schools in Quibdó, the capital of Colombia’s Chocó province, where around 40 schools collapsed and hundreds more were affected.
According to media reports, Shakira in a statement said, “What worries me the most is that schools are not rebuilt once this emergency is over. Every day that children don’t go to school is a day they miss out on their future.”
Howard Buffett, who has previously worked with Shakira on school-building projects in Colombia, also joined her during the visit. His foundation will partner with Fundación Pies Descalzos to rebuild 10 schools.
“When she calls, I come,” Buffett said.
Shakira also pledged to focus her “personal efforts” on rebuilding a technological university in Chocó that was severely damaged, while announcing $500,000 pledges from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund and Live Nation, and $250,000 from CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean to help rebuild schools and return children to classrooms.
Chocó, one of Colombia’s poorest regions, was at the epicentre of the quake, with at least 3,100 homes destroyed, according to the regional government’s latest report Monday.
While the government has reported 194 people missing, civilian-run databases have put the number at more than 4,100. Thousands of schools and other educational centres were affected.
Beyond her musical persona, Shakira has been a staunch advocate for children’s wellbeing through her Barefoot Foundation, a Colombian non-profit organisation she founded in 1997 to focus on providing education to impoverished and vulnerable communities. It specifically targets victims of displacement through school-based programmes, nutrition, and psychosocial support.
Her foundation has been working in Chocó for 22 years, where it runs two schools attended by hundreds of students. “I really want to see it rebuild again,” Shakira added.
Shakira is known for hits like , and the World Cup anthem .
In July, Shakira headlined the halftime show at the World Cup final, following a May performance at Brazil’s Copacabana Beach that drew 2 million people.
Following Venezuela’s twin earthquakes in June, Shakira announced a $500,000 commitment from the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund toward education recovery efforts in the country.