SHAKIRA’S SURPRISE THIS TIME? A SCHOOL!
Books, laboratories and a dining hall in Cartagena. Through Pies Descalzos, the Colombian pop star enters a neighbourhood’s everyday life.
A 3D printer, thirty classrooms, a library. In Cartagena, Colombia, Shakira’s name appears far from the stage: at the public Pies Descalzos–Villas de Aranjuez school, inaugurated in May 2024. It can accommodate up to 960 children and young people, from preschool through secondary school.
Seven years of work behind the bell
Director Patricia Sierra says the project began in 2017. Today the school has a digital library, laboratories, kitchen, dining hall and accessible spaces. Those 960 places describe building capacity rather than actual daily attendance.
Cartagena’s education department runs it. Pies Descalzos worked alongside the municipality, ministry and other foundations. The opening ceremony is a beginning: lessons, meals, books and spaces to bring alive follow.
A story beginning in 1997
The foundation began almost thirty years ago to help children and families displaced by violence, starting with a reliable meal. Education gradually became its heart.
In September 2023 another school opened in Shakira’s hometown, Barranquilla: Nuevo Bosque, with classrooms, laboratories and arts spaces, also intended as a neighbourhood meeting place.
The pop star draws attention. The work continues
The foundation reports reaching more than 28,000 children and young people across Colombia in 2024, beyond the schools it built. Shakira has also been a UNICEF ambassador since 2003, a separate, parallel commitment.
What happens after inauguration? The library, dining hall and teachers are the chapter that remains when the spotlight moves on.
