Shakira

Shakira touched by song of girl orphaned by Sidr

Pop singer Shakira was moved when a Bangladeshi girl orphaned by last month's cyclone Sidr sang "Mother, wherever you are, write to me".

Used to entertaining millions, Shakira was "disturbed" by 11-year old Nipa's wailing voice, The Daily Star reported Thursday.

"She sang to me a song of grief. It was a beautiful song in Bengali. It said, 'Mother, wherever you are, write to me'. I will never forget her voice," Shakira said of the moments she spent with Nipa in Patuakhali, devastated by the Nov 15 cyclone.

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Shakira touched by song of girl orphaned by Sidr Posted on 2007-12-19 22:12:04 Views : 201 Indo-Asian News Service Dhaka, Dec 20 (IANS) Pop singer Shakira was moved when a Bangladeshi girl orphaned by last month's cyclone Sidr sang "Mother, wherever you are, write to me". Used to entertaining millions, Shakira was "disturbed" by 11-year old Nipa's wailing voice, The Daily Star reported Thursday. "She sang to me a song of grief. It was a beautiful song in Bengali. It said, 'Mother, wherever you are, write to me'. I will never forget her voice," Shakira said of the moments she spent with Nipa in Patuakhali, devastated by the Nov 15 cyclone. The Colombian singing star is touring Bangladesh as the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) goodwill ambassador. "It is hard to imagine celebrities being emotional. Let alone global mega pop stars," the newspaper said on meeting Shakira in her hotel room back in Dhaka, adding that she was "visibly shaken from her visit to Sidr-hit areas". "It is easy to understand why she was chosen as a Unicef goodwill ambassador," it added. But Shakira says she also found hope in the children of Bangladesh. "Amid all this calamity, sadness and grief, I saw kids playing, singing and smiling in this semi-destroyed school. It was like an oasis of relief," she said. "I loved hearing the kids say they dream about becoming doctors and nurses. They all had positive dreams. I want to leave Bangladesh knowing some of these kids will be given the opportunity to accomplish their dreams," she said. Still coming to terms with what she had seen in the southern part of the country, Shakira said: "I was devastated to see that entire villages were wiped away. Everything they had was gone...that touched me. The loss of so many human lives...I will never forget the faces of the mothers who lost their children.

"Bangladesh and its people need attention, international attention from governments, NGOs and regular people as well," she said.

As part of her wider plans, she visited a Unicef project in Rajshahi where "hard-to-reach-children" spend days in centres away from the streets.

Shakira has been working with children since she was 18 when she built a foundation called Pies Descalzos, meaning bare feet in Spanish.

The seeds of inspiration had been sown a decade earlier at the age of eight when her father had gone bankrupt and her family lost most of what they had.

Her father used to take her to a park in the more run-down part of the town, where she found kids sniffing glue and was shattered by the sight of their hardship.

"From that point I decided I will do something to help them one day," Shakira said.

"I always felt very committed to review the issues that children face, maybe because I grew up in a country like Colombia where children face the same problems like children in Bangladesh and elsewhere.

"Children are the most vulnerable population in the world and at the same time they are our only hope for a safer world. We are all concerned about a better future and a more secure place for our children, our children's children and for us," she added.

Asked how she deals with the fact that in a few months she would be singing in a glitzy concert when the children here would still be struggling with their daily lives, she told the newspaper: "I guess it's using that spotlight that shines on me during that concert and moving it away from me to put on the issues that need that attention. This is what I can do in my own small way."