Shakira's personal poverty made her do charity

Before Shakira became a world famous singer, she was poor. And before she was poor, she was one of the few to enjoy Colombian middle class life. It was the poverty her family plunged into after the bankruptcy of her father's business that made her start Pies Descalzos, the foundation to help child education worldwide.

In an article in Newsweek, the singer writes how at age seven she went from riches to rags, because of the bankruptcy of her father's jewelry business.

"We had gone from being middle class to poor almost overnight, and from my 7-year-old child's perspective it was hard to imagine anything worse. I can still viscerally remember the seeming desperation of that moment," she writes in the magazine.

"My parents found ways to put our situation in perspective and to show me how fortunate we still were, especially given that—previously unbeknownst to me—so many families and children had so much less," she added.

Shakira remembers how she and her dad would take a walk through a Barranquilla park and she saw the children who really had nothing. "They lived in the dirt, in tattered clothes and with bare feet, scrounging through garbage for anything to eat. Many sniffed glue to dull the pain of their existence," she writes.

It was at that moment, she says, she promised herself she would help those children if she ever had the chance.

Now, after having sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, the singer is keeping her her promise.

Her foundation Pies Descalzos (barefoot) already helped education in a number of schools in Colombia and, as she recently announced, will help children in other developing countries too.

Source:http://colombiareports.com/colombian-news/

Shakira urges to include children in upcoming Latin American summit

Colombian singer Shakira urged Latin American presidents to include the development of children during the next Ibero-American summit to be held in El Salvador.

Shakira, together with Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, attended a discussion at the Columbia University in New York where the artists debated with several Latin American heads of state.

"We want to propose that the topic of early childhood development is included during the Ibero-American summit in November,"Shakira told the Presidents.

Shakira, who through several foundations actively is trying to improve living conditions of children in Latin America, stressed the importance that the basic needs of children between 0 and 6 years old are met. Children lacking basic needs at an early age "will be sentenced to not have a decent life," the singer added.

The Latin American leaders joining the debate expressed their commitment to bring up the topic during the summit.

Source: http://colombiareports.com/colombian-news