News & Politics - Oprah Opens All Girls School in South Africa

Ruby_Slippers · 01-05-2007, 09:15 PM

From ABC

Quote:

Exclusive GMA Interview

Jan. 3 - In an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer, Oprah Winfrey talks about why she built a $40 million school for girls in South Africa.

In South Africa on Tuesday, the curtain for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls parted for 152 girls in ankle socks.

They bring a history of so much suffering and so much hope for the future.

"You want dream girls? Take a look at these," said Oprah Winfrey, who made good on her pledge six years ago to Nelson Mandela to build the school.

Half the population of South Africa lives in poverty, a quarter of the people have HIV, and there is an epidemic of violence among girls.

Still, for some in the country, Winfrey's school, with its amazing theater, beautiful library and African art everywhere, seems "too much."

Critics inside and outside the country have asked, in a land with this kind of poverty, how can you spend more than $40 million on one school?

"I did love that the minister of education for this entire country stood up and said, 'I'm going to address the criticism. Is it too much? No, it isn't,'" Winfrey said in an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer for "Good Morning America."

Winfrey said she got resistance from the very beginning, even from the school's architects.

"The resistance was too much," Winfrey said. "'What are you doing? What do they need all that room for? Why does a girl need all that closet space when she has no clothes?' That's what they first said to me."

"And my idea was to understand, yes, you come from nothing, but oh, what a something you will become, if given the opportunity," Winfrey said.

Most of the girls who were admitted to the school have come from very little -- no running water, no electricity, many of them studying by candlelight.

They are still the best in their class.

At Tuesday's opening ceremony, one irrepressible girl named Losego said, "I went through hell and high water to come to this school."

Diamonds and Dreams

Winfrey, who will stay very involved with the school and even teach leadership classes, said she believed the future was unimaginably bright for all of the girls.

"Somebody asked me, what do I think will happen or what do I imagine for them. I don't. I don't imagine. & I can't imagine what it's like to have a miracle like this. It's just a miracle," Winfrey said.

And the girls already have big dreams. Losego had a suggested question for Winfrey: "What did you do with your first million?"

Winfrey dressed up for the school's opening ceremony, diamonds and all. The girls had seen them in pictures, and Winfrey said she had worn them as a signal that this was an important celebration.

"One of the things that's very important for me is for the girls to be proud of themselves and to be proud of the way they look and where they come from, and a lot of them in the beginning were very embarrassed about being poor," Winfrey said.

When Winfrey asked some of the girls why they wanted to come to the school, many said they wanted to take care of their families.

"And some of them would say, 'I want to come to this school because I am a poor girl,' and then they would drop their heads," Winfrey said. "I was a poor girl, too. So there's no shame in being a poor girl because being poor is just a circumstance. It's not who you are. It's not what can be possible for you."

The school's curriculum and standards of behavior are high -- no alcohol and no pregnancies allowed. This is a school for leaders, Winfrey says.

"I said to the girls, 'I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure you now have a good life and the best opportunity to go to the best schools in the world so when you leave this school you will choose universities all over the world. I cannot now take of your children,'" she said.

A Responsibility to Her New Daughters

One question that has been asked of Winfrey is why not build a school like this in the United States?

"What is different about this country is that there is this sort of desperate yearning to know better and do better that you just don't have in the United States," she said. "You don't have it because the opportunity's always been there."

The parents of the South African girls are also grateful for the opportunity.

"And I don't know a South African mother or father who didn't understand what a value, what a gift, what an opportunity an education is," Winfrey said.

Winfrey admits that putting such a big stake into this school and these girls is a huge responsibility.

"It's not just about using your money wisely and making the best investment possible by investing in the future of young girls, but now I have a lot of responsibility," she said. "I feel it."

Winfrey has vowed to care for the new students at her school as if they were her own daughters.

"I said to the mothers, the family members, the aunts, the grannies -- because most of these girls have lost their families, their parents -- I said to them, 'Your daughters are now my daughters and I promise you I'm going to take care of your daughters. I promise you.'"

Oprah opens school in South Africa (CNN) This is a great clip because it does a profile on one of the young girls Oprah is educating

Entertainment Tonight in South Africa with Oprah

S.A.S.H.A. · 01-05-2007, 09:26 PM

Sasha

Lexis · 01-05-2007, 09:52 PM

Go Oprah! She is totally one of my biggest inspirations in life - gutsy, intelligent and compassionate.

Love & Passion · 01-06-2007, 12:13 AM

thanks!!! hopefully it'll be able to keep on running for a long time!!

nopal · 01-06-2007, 09:41 AM

Good for Oprah, she's an inspiration.

Dana_Lana · 01-06-2007, 10:22 AM

Oprah rocks.

quaist · 01-06-2007, 11:21 AM

If everybody who's that famous and influential like her would use their power to do such things, the world would be a much nicer place.

**TheAngel** · 01-06-2007, 02:28 PM

I saw the school and I love the idea. Otherwise these girls would have no hope for a future. I strongly support what she has done and is doing.

Lain · 01-06-2007, 08:24 PM

Kudos to her

I read somewhere that in the early stages of building the school, Oprah (or someone else) thought that their idea of a school looked more like a chicken coop

elisheva · 01-06-2007, 09:39 PM

It's great to see people doing such wonderful things with their money. I can understand the criticism, but I think this will hopefully inspire similar things throughout sub-Saharan Africa. And a little glamour to attract people to the idea of education is a good thing.

barelylegal · 01-07-2007, 07:49 AM

That is a great idea! I am very proud of her

**TheAngel** · 01-07-2007, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elisheva (View Post)

It's great to see people doing such wonderful things with their money. I can understand the criticism, but I think this will hopefully inspire similar things throughout sub-Saharan Africa. And a little glamour to attract people to the idea of education is a good thing.

I think that's it. Sometime you have to make things a little over the top to get attention and that's what that area of Africa needs. People are focused on the civil wars, they forget about the people that fight daily battles just to live. Besides, those girls have lived in extreme poverty for their entire lives, let them have a little luxury.

Love & Passion · 01-07-2007, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by barelylegal (View Post)

That is a great idea! I am very proud of her

i think we all are!!

chicah · 01-08-2007, 11:23 AM

Yep. I've always wonder why rich people can do one good thing and spend about 0,0000000001 of their money on charity and no one cares about them spending the rest on themselves.

But, of course, Oprah has done lots of great things.


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