Even before she was a young rock star with purple hair and ripped everything, Shakira promised herself that she would do everything in her power to help impoverished children in Latin America get an education and hopefully end the cycle of poverty in the region.
Thankfully she has tremendous power! With her Pies Descalsos and other endeavors she as done a lot to fulfill her promise. However, her latest endeavor, Fundación ALAS, is the most exciting one for us so far.
The foundation focuses on the early childhood development stage (infancy to six years), which is crucial to ending the cycle of poverty. It is proven that an investment in this stage yields the greatest return on investment for a community. Why? A relatively small investment does a lot. Simple tasks such as holding a child, feeding him, and talking to him helps him grasp concepts more easily as an adult, supports his health and increases the probability of education. This is obvious to all of us who have grown up outside of poverty, but the information is not so clear to families that struggle constant with hunger and/or violence. Funadación ALAS offers educational programs for mothers, they have been building schools for children in areas that previously lacked the facilities, and they even offer "volunteer mothers" for children whose mothers work or are otherwise unavailable to feed and hold their children on a daily basis.
Shakira's star power combined with the cooperation of political figures such as the president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos and our ex-president Bill Clinton and financiers such as Carlos Slim and Alejandro Santo Domingo has created a huge brand and following for this critical foundation.
This video is in Spanish and there is no hip-movement, but the promise of a better future for the children of Latin America is sweet music to our ears!
