Last month, I had the pleasure and honor of attending the Third Israeli Presidential Conference in Jerusalem as a panel speaker and guest of President Shimon Peres. This conference was dedicated to "the crucial decisions that will make a better tomorrow."
The afternoon of the conference, I visited the Max Rayne Jerusalem School, an inspirational place where half of the student population is Israeli and half Palestinian. Students learn together, across all divides, speaking both Arabic and Hebrew, learning and playing together without difference. This visit reminded me, once again, that the most crucial decisions we can make for a better tomorrow concern how to raise and educate our children.
I come from Colombia, a country that, like Israel, has experienced decades of bitter violence. I started Barefoot Foundation when I was 18 in an effort to help stop the cycle of brutality that I saw there. I was convinced that increasing access to education was one of the few options a country like Colombia had to win the battle against poverty and violence. The schools that Barefoot Foundation continues to build and operate in Colombia are now educating about 6,000 students. Our projects in Haiti and South Africa serve hundreds more.
I came to Israel to share some of the lessons I've learned and the experiences I've gathered working in the field of education and by witnessing its fast and transformative power: First, children are born expecting peace, and it is our job to protect this expectation as long as possible. Second, education is an excellent investment because you do not have to wait 100 years, or even 20 years, to see tangible results; the speed of return and benefit to humanity are unparalleled. An early investment -- the earlier, the better -- lasts a lifetime, or even many lifetimes, as it brings up whole families and communities. As a child grows and begins to learn, the family's investment of time, energy and money deepens and becomes more profound. The child's value rises, the family's social value rises, and thus, the community's value rises.
There is no other investment that has the kind of social multiplier effect that early education has. It is an incredible thing to nurture and watch grow and spread. Seeing the students flourish at Max Rayne School -- as with visiting the children in my schools in Colombia who are now on their way to college instead of guerilla armies -- only reaffirms my conviction that education is the very substance of peace.
We have so many shared problems to solve. Our future is not assured. Children today have incredible challenges ahead of them. They need to be ready. Let's give them safety. Let's give them open minds. Let's give them all the love and encouragement we can. Let's give them the chance to build a world that is better than the one they entered. The future desperately needs them to succeed. They are the hope we might have to find peace.
Follow Shakira on Twitter: www.twitter.com/shakira
The Educational system in the Arab World, including Gaza and Arab controlled West Bank enclaves, is a shambles.
Right now there are 200,000 Palestinian Children attending Hamas Summer Camp in Gaza.
They are being trained to shoot military weapons, and are being indoctrinated into the ongoing war for the elimination of the State of Israel. No one bothers to even address this outside of Israel itself.
How does one address it? By ending all forms of appeasement, and clamping down hard - on the money given to support these abominations. The Children of Gaza suffer the more for it.
If the answer is yes, I will try to find one for you.
Thank you for your efforts on behalf of children, education and peace. It's a pity that one side there has no interest in same (and it wasn't the side you visited.)
Love,
Johnny C.
Are you going to visit Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Iraq,etc...?
Do these countries have schools where Jewish children and Muslim children are learning and playing together like in the Max Rayne Jerusalem School?
Israel violates Palestinian human rights, and has done so for 63 years. By playing and touring Israel, you have become complicit in their tyranny.
It is antithetical to be a human rights activist, and then promote yourself among one of the world's most notorious human rights abusers.
Good luck in your life.
While I applaud the work you do with your foundation and your commitment to education as a means of change, I am struck by the naiveté of your article. Did you consider crossing the barrier wall over to Gaza or the West Bank? Children in Occupied Palestine live very differently from those in Israel. It's hard to be committed to education and thus development - the cause you champion - if bullets are being shot while you walk to school. I'm sure President Peres would not be welcome to the idea of you going to the Territories, but you should. It'd be safe for you, people would welcome you with open arms and tea. And then you could learn for yourself instead of being fed information.
To begin with, look at the Elders stance on the issue.
Or see the disparities of the facts: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
Or read this girl's story: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bassam-aramins-search-for-justice-2055355.html
This is a complicated subject. It'd be good for you to do some actual research or even take three or four hours to go to Palestine the next time you're in Israel. That way, people like me (your huge fans) will still be able to respect you after reading your writing.
I agree that a visit to West Bank and Gazan Schools, many named after terrorists, would be instructive for Shakira. There she could witness the daily incitement of Palestinian children to hatred of Israel and its Jewish population in school textbooks, and assemblies, on children's TV programmes and even, sadly, by some teachers. These schools, bankrolled by US, UN and EU aid, promote amongst Palestinian youngsters the hope that, if only they will shed enough of their blood, one day Israel and her Jewish citizens will disappear from the region.
Perhaps you should go too.
- a broken hearted fan