Thaindian News

Apr 13 (THAINDIAN NEWS) On Sunday, the Colombian pop star known as Shakira was in Haiti with a determination for her purpose. She was looking for land which would be suitable enough for her vision: a school for the children of disaster stricken Haiti to have the opportunity to “learn and thrive.” According to “The Wall Street Journal”, Shakira’s “Barefoot Organization” will work with the “Architecture For Humanity” to construct the new school.

Shakira flew into the wrecked city of Port au Prince, Haiti’s capital, on board a private jet. She met with around 100 children, who danced for her to her songs. Afterward, the singer toured a camp which houses almost 50,000 people on what used to be a golf course. She met Sean Penn on the site, as he was there with his own charity to help the Haitian victims.

In a brief interview, Shakira explained that her school would closely resemble other schools which had been formed by her Barefoot Organization. The charity provides education, grief, and other types of counseling and nutrition for over 6000 children in Colombia who were displaced by the violence there.

“We’ve come to make all the preparations to be able to start the building of a Barefoot school here in Haiti, We think we can employ what we’ve learned [in Colombia] here, apply it in this country which needs it so much at the moment,” Shakira added.

The earthquake which struck Haiti was described by many as the deadliest natural disaster in modern history. Over 300,000 people were killed, and over a million others are homeless; many of those are children who were orphaned by the tragedy. Even before the quake, Haiti was considered to be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. “We need to think about the future of this country and of how Haiti’s children can be useful to their societies tomorrow … Education is one of the fundamental tools with which to develop and rebuild Haiti,” the pop star said.