Oprah Winfrey: Doing Her Part For Education
The school will teach girls to be the best human beings they can ever be; it will train them to become decision-makers and leaders; it will be a model school for the rest of the world.
— Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey dreamt of building a first-class school to nurture, educate and turn gifted South African girls from impoverished backgrounds into the country’s future leaders. Now, the school welcomes the first two classes of students - 7th and 8th grade.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls - South Africa supports the development of a new generation of women leaders who, by virtue of their education and leadership, will lead the charge to positively transform themselves, their communities and the larger world around them.
To accomplish this goal, the Academy provides a rigorous and supportive educational environment for academically talented girls who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
The History
During a December 2000 visit with Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey pledged to build a school for girls in South Africa. Two years later, on 6 December 2002, Mr. Mandela and then Minister of Education Professor Kader Asmal joined Ms. Winfrey to break ground on the site of the Academy, located in Henley on Klip in Gauteng province.
On 2 January 2007, the Academy officially opened with 7th and 8th grade girls. The Academy will grow by one grade each year until it reaches full capacity in 2011, with approximately 450 girls in grades 7 through 12.
Answering Criticisms
Winfrey speculates, “I perhaps will get criticism about, ‘Why didn’t you do this for children in America?’ “
Her reply: “Because we have a school system in America. … There’s no 12-year-old girl in America that you’re going to find crying because this is the last year for her education because nobody can afford to send her to school. You want to give the gift to the person who’s going to love it the most.”
Winfrey says candidly that when she has tried to help kids in the US but she has failed.
Attempting to mentor a group of girls from her adopted hometown of Chicago, “I took them on ski trips, we had etiquette classes … you’d teach them how to do their makeup, we’d read and talk about books. And when they went home, they were criticized and beat up because their families said, ‘Who do you think you are?’ “.
The failure taught her “You can’t just give people money, new homes, new stuff and think that you’re giving them a new life.”
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