Singer Shakira visited the Chocó region of Colombia this week to announce the reconstruction of a university and 10 new schools [1, 5].
The initiative aims to restore educational access for children and students whose facilities were destroyed by a massive earthquake that struck on Aug. 10 [1, 3].
The disaster, which centered in the city of Quibdó, was triggered by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake [1]. The seismic event caused widespread devastation across the department, resulting in at least 300 deaths [2], 4,147 injuries [2], and 194 missing persons [2].
Representing her Fundación Pies Descalzos, Shakira traveled to the affected zones to assess the damage firsthand. She said that her foundation would reconstruct the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó and build 10 new schools to replace those lost in the disaster [1, 3, 6].
"Each day that children do not go to school, we pause their future," Shakira said [3].
The singer's visit comes as the region struggles to cope with the scale of the casualties and the loss of critical infrastructure. The focus on education is intended to prevent long-term setbacks for the youth of Chocó, one of Colombia's most vulnerable regions, who are now without classrooms [1, 4].
"We will reconstruct the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó and ten new schools," Shakira said [1].
“"Each day that children do not go to school, we pause their future,"”
The commitment to rebuild educational infrastructure in Chocó addresses a critical gap in disaster recovery. Because the region is historically marginalized, the loss of the Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó represents a significant blow to local higher education. By leveraging private philanthropy through Fundación Pies Descalzos, the recovery effort bypasses some of the typical delays associated with government-led reconstruction in remote Colombian departments.
