Shakira: "Colombia must invest in education to have peace."

Like her hips, Shakira's humanitarian work does not lie, and her bare feet never stray far from her hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia. Prior to wrapping her El Dorado tour in Bogota, Colombia, on Saturday night, the Colombian hitmaker and philanthropist laid the first stone for the construction of two new Pies Descalzos schools - one in Barranquilla and the other in nearby Cartagena.

Each of the schools cost more than $4 million, and are being built by Shakira's Fundacion Pies Descalzos in partnership with Costa Cruceros, the National ministry of Education (Colombia), the mayor's office of Barranquilla, the mayor's office of Cartagena, Fundacion FC Barcelona, LCI Education Foundation and the Swiss Embassy in Colombia. The two new schools will be built in the neighborhoods of Nuevo Bosque in Barranquilla and Aranjuez in Cartagena.

The happy Colombian music legend proudly left her hand and footprints on a cement cornerstone to mark the event. She posed with school children who gave her a warm welcome at the ceremony. Hundreds of fans waved at her and help up posters with heartfelt messages.

Shakira thanked her partners for providing for the new constructions, saying "Thank you for participating in the construction of these two new schools that will take us one step further towards quality in Colombia and Latin America". She also said, "Investing in education and offering equal opportunities to our boys and girls is the way to continue paving the way for peace." Fundacion Pies Descalzos already has four schools in Cartagena, Baranquilla, Quibdo and Soacha. "When some children don't receive the same education as those who live in better conditions we can't talk about a country in peace, we can't talk about a country with equality, because education is what equalizes us", Shakira added.

The Colombian songstress created her Pies Descalzos foundation in 1997 when she was just 18, after her first internationally successful album, in 1997.

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