Oprah Winfrey opened a school Tuesday for disadvantaged girls, fulfilling a promise she made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giving more than 150 students a chance for a better future.
“I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light,” Winfrey said at a news conference.
Mandela, 88, attended the opening ceremony of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg. He looked frail as he was helped on to the stage by his wife, Graca Machel, and Winfrey. But he beamed with joy and his speech resonated with pride.
“It is my hope that this school will become the dream of every South African girl and they will study hard and qualify for the school one day,” he said in a firm voice.
Mandela thanked Winfrey for the “personal time and effort” she devoted to the school.
“This is not a distant donation but a project that clearly lies close to your heart,” said the anti-apartheid leader who became multiracial South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994. Source
January 3rd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Dear Oprah I did enjoy watching your show and all the wonderful thing’s you are doing for man kind but after hearing your remark in south Africa I don’t care to ever watch your show again If A white person said that same comment about the black race all of them would be asking for your Head.Do you know that 10.9% of the USA is black were do you think you made your money from? You are no better then any body else black or white.Sorry but that is how I feel.
January 3rd, 2007 at 5:19 pm
where you referring to her statement about american kids? if that is what you are talking about i really dont see the need for you to go after her like that. i am sure as you can see she is helping black people who are desperatly in need of help.
January 3rd, 2007 at 6:03 pm
The comment was that “she did not have to appease white people”. Maybe she is where she belongs. I too will not watch her show again. She seems to have forgotten where she made all of her money. Certainly not in Africa. It shows her true “roots. So sorry American children talk about I pods but then that is what they see on TV as the big corporations push their products on children who push their parents to buy them. I doubt many children in Africa know what an Ipod is. Like everything she does, it was far to lavish. The money would have gone farther if she used it correctly. If she wants to help Africa, start with education on birth control. If they did not produce so many children, they would not be in the shape they are in. Most of the Counry is illiterate. Maybe going into that too would depress her. She is a perfect example of the old saying “Money can’t buy everything” . She will always be what she is and what she came from, all of the glitz and glamour cannot change her. You can talke the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Now she has started a school for girls isnt that going about it the write way in educating kids who would’nt have any education otherwise.
This is the statement that they claimed she said.
Oprah Winfrey is firing back at critics of her decision to build a $40 million school complex in South Africa - saying she didn’t build it in the U.S. because inner-city kids here don’t appreciate the value of a free education.
“I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn’t there,” the TV talk-show maven says in the current issue of Newsweek.
“If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don’t ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school.”
The tough talk comes as the famously philanthropic Winfrey unveils her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa - a sprawling, 28-building complex for impoverished teens that features a yoga studio and beauty salon, among other luxuries.
The 22-acre complex has taken more than five years to build and has raised eyebrows in the U.S. and abroad, she said.
“I understand that many …feel that I’m going overboard, and that’s fine,” Winfrey said. “This is what I want to do. I wanted to take girls with that ‘it’ quality and give them an opportunity to make a difference in the world.”
Winfrey handpicked the 152 girls who will attend out of an application pool of more than 3,500. Winfrey has also supplied millions of dollars to educate needy children in the U.S. through the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program.
January 3rd, 2007 at 7:23 pm
I really dont think she said anything that was all that bad , does inner city kids only mean black kids , i dont think so. and yes i do agree that alot of kids maybe caught up in all the media hype living in america, but so are kids in africa. i remember watching Jay-z trip to africa when he was doing the UN water program thing. and these people live in dirty slums with Sewage flowing through the front of their yard, they didnt have any running water in their house but yet they had Camera phone. A lot of people both in africa and america have their Priority set wrong. But no one can deny that the kids in africa are more needy. Yes i agree she has gone over board with Yoga studio and all that crap. but she still continues to help people in america through her Oprah Winfrey Scholars program.
January 16th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Dear Oprah, please f**k off from my country. I’m sure there’s plenty of Americans who need your money. You’re not welcome back, you bigot.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Oprah is a racist and what she does give is a tax shelter for the rich,she also said on her radio show that she wished her grandmother was alive to see see had white folks working for her,but they were good white folks,we made her and now she has shown her true colors! She also belongs to the same church as Obama,and it is racist and their commited to Africa,did you notice that all the stars ,and most of her shows money goes to Africa
February 18th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I understand why most of these people think they should help the people of Africa rather than the Americans because they are more needy. I would say they are racist because of that. Obama dad is African and he has a strong link to African so there is not much to say on that side.