Literanista
December 8, 2009
Her interest in education matters brought her to address Oxford’s students, with a passionate speech in which she envisaged a future in which 30,000 teachers might be sent to Afghanistan instead of 30,000 soldiers.
“Its not about charity,” she insisted afterwards, “It’s about human investment. The best strategy to fight poverty, to prevent illness, to improve agriculture and decrease malnutrition, decrease child labour and decrease sex-trafficking, is access to education.”
Shakira is impressively focused and articulate, well prepared with facts and figures. “There are 75 million kids who don’t receive an education, 226 million who don’t have access to secondary school. The children are the foundation in a house, and, if you don’t build strong foundations, you will spend your lives trying to fix problems that will arise.”
