Last March, five young students from the Bogando Project lived one of the most exciting and unforgettable experiences of their lives. During the Estéreo Picnic 2025 Festival, the students were invited to meet in person the renowned Canadian singer and composer Shawn Mendes, thanks to the generous gesture of the partner foundation Playing For Change.

The meeting took place in Bogotá, backstage at the festival, and marked a very special moment for these young people from Quibdó, Chocó. They are all part of Bogando, an educational and cultural project that seeks to strengthen life skills, leadership and access to quality opportunities through education, art and music.

Thanks to this alliance, the students were not only able to attend one of the most important music festivals in Latin America, but also share an intimate space with one of the most influential artists of his generation.

During the meeting with Shawn Mendes, the students talked with him about their dreams, their love for music, their personal projects and the challenges they face in their communities. The artist listened attentively, shared anecdotes from his own childhood and adolescence, and encouraged them to continue believing in themselves.  

The magical night also included access to Mendes' live concert, where the students vibrated to their favorite songs from a preferential location. The excitement on their faces was evident, and for many of them it was the first time they attended an event of this magnitude. For the Barefoot Foundation, this experience not only represented a moment of joy and motivation, but also an opportunity to reinforce the message that all children, regardless of their place of origin, deserve to live transforming experiences that allow them to dream big.

This type of initiative reinforces one of the fundamental pillars of the Foundation: to work so that no child is left behind. Education does not only take place in the classroom; it also happens in meaningful encounters, in cultural spaces, and in experiences that expand the world and awaken new possibilities.

Bogando, the project of which these five students are a part, has been generating an important impact on them, through processes of integral education, music, navigation and dialogue with the communities, in addition to strengthening the communicative, emotional and social skills of children and adolescents, opening the way to a future with more opportunities.

At the Barefoot Foundation we continue working to build a country where all children have access to transformative educational experiences. Because when the doors of learning, culture and inspiration are opened, the future is filled with new possibilities.