Shakira Launches Charity T-Shirt Collection

Spain’s second largest exporter of fashion, MANGO, is launching a small collection of solidarity t-shirts with Shakira, inspired by the official FIFA World Cup anthem “Waka Waka”.

The design of the t-shirts represents the spirit, vitality and energy of the host continent of the FIFA World Cup and profits from the sales of the “Waka Waka” t-shirt will be donated to initiatives for elementary education in South Africa.

One of the principal schools to receive the profits, which has the support of UNICEF, is the South Africa East Observatory School, which cares for children who have been orphaned or displaced by war. The school has around 560 children, 60% of whom are orphans due to civil war, while 20% have lost one of their parents as a result of the AIDS virus. This school offers a combination of a quality education with social support and a daily school nutrition program, reflecting the commitment of UNICEF and the Barefoot Foundation towards child nutrition and general education program. Once this project has been completed, any additional funds from this campaign will be donated to other school projects in South Africa.

“The true spirit of this World Cup involves making a lasting contribution”, Shakira says. “We can add to the legacy of this historic moment a platform committed to providing quality education for the children of South Africa and to ending poverty and inequality wherever they exist”.

A total of four t-shirts, two models for women and two models for men, bearing the printed slogans “Waka Waka” and “This Time for Africa”, have been exclusively designed for the occasion. The models will go on sale at all MANGO stores, and via its webpage, from 10 June.

Profits from the sales of the shirts will be used to extend child education initiatives in Africa, where 1 out of every 10 children suffer from severe malnutrition and 35% of all deaths from AIDS correspond to children under the age of five. All proceeds will be donated directly to the Barefoot Foundation, which will allocate the funds to selected schools in South Africa.