Explore South Africa

Last month, billionaire talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, opened a school for girls in South Africa. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls was founded by the lady herself, who invested $40 million in the project. She broke ground in the facility in December 2002, and January 2nd of this year she opened the school. The school is situated in HeyleyonKlip, just south of Johannesburg.

The school has 152 girls in attendance and is said to have 450 pupils by 2011.

The mission: “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
Oprah comes from a background that is less memorable. She is thankful that she had a good education, but talks of how she was abused and molested. However, through determination she worked her way up, and became what she is today. She was the first black woman ever to host her own talk show, and that show is still the most popular in all 21 years that is has been running.

Oprah promised former South African president, Nelson Mandela, six years ago that she would open a school in South Africa, for underprivileged children, and he was there last month to watch her open her school.

“Education is the way to move mountains, to build bridges, to change the world. Education is the path to the future. I believe that education is indeed freedom. With God’s help, these girls will be the future leaders on the path to peace in South Africa and the world” – Oprah

The 152 girls who are now attending the school were handpicked from 3500 applications. These girls come from extremely poor backgrounds. The school is completely free for the girls, and includes only the best facilities. This first intake of girls will reap the undoubted benefits of fully equipped computer and science laboratories, indoor and outdoor theatres, library, gymnasium, health centre and sports fields. There is also a yoga centre and beauty salon at the school. The décor is of the best.

Oprah sees the school as an opportunity to “give back” for the wealth she has attained in her lifetime. She designed the palatial academy in her hopes to inspire the girls with beauty and send the message that poor African women are important.

There is some debate over this school. Though most agree that is was a noble thing of her to do, some will say that is was over-extravagant and that she should have better dispersed her money to improve the education system which already exists in South Africa. Americans say she should have taken her money and used it back home, to help African-Americans and the poor schools.

Mandela said of Oprah: “This is a lady that has, despite her own disadvantaged background, become one of the benefactors of the disadvantages throughout the world.” –Nelson Mandela

Oprah mentioned her disadvantaged background numerous times and said she was only too happy to help avoid these girls having to go through the same time. She described her education as “the most vital aspect of my life”.

“I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light” –Oprah

Now the wealthiest American woman celebrity, with earnings in excess of $1.5 billion, Oprah talks openly about her childhood.

“I was a poor girl who grew up with my grandmother, like so many of these girls, with no water and electricity” –Oprah

To qualify for admission, the girls had to show academic and leadership potential and have a household income of less than $800 a month. One of the girls said “I would have had a completely different life if this hadn’t happened to me. Now I get a life where I get to be treated like a movie star.”

Sadly, for the vast majority of the millions of South African children returning to school this year, there is a different reality. They will have to get by in dilapidated and overcrowded facilities, with too few teachers, not enough books and a general lack of basic infrastructure. This is a huge crisis in South Africa, and if more celebrities would do things like this, perhaps there is hope. But maybe they could find better ways of doing it, rather than just throwing money at one specific project. So many in the education field believe her $40 million could have been better spent, and could have improved the lot of literally thousands of pupils, as opposed to a tiny cadre of lucky ones. One wonders if she realises it and if asked what her response would be.