Stars come out for Oprah's school opening
Oprah Winfrey headed a celebrity line-up that included Tina Turner and Spike Lee at today’s opening of the talk-show queen’s new school for poor South African girls.
The true stars, though, were Sade and Megan, whose father killed their mother and then himself; Zodwa, whose mother died of Aids, and some 150 other girls who Winfrey says had a “light so bright” that it shone through their deprivation and helped their dreams come true.
The luxurious €29.7m Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, plucked the proud and excited girls from poverty to be groomed for power.
Winfrey said she planned to open another school for boys and girls by the end of the month in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.
Opening-ceremony guests such as Turner, Lee, Mary J Blige, Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier and Chris Tucker were asked to bring a personally inscribed book for the library, which included self-help books as well as Harry Potter.
Winfrey, who is called “Mam Oprah” by the girls, said she came with a celebrity posse for a reason.
“These people have the power to do things. They have voices which can be heard in the US and across the world.”
Lee, who attended with his family, said it was a “testimony to Oprah’s power to see all these people showed up to support her”.
“Oprah is one of the most amazing women in the world. It is amazing to see what she can do when she puts her mind to it. It is an honour to be here,” said Carey.
Africa has drawn attention from a number of celebrities, with pop singer Madonna adopting a Malawian boy and setting up programmes for others orphaned by Aids in the southern African country, actor George Clooney lobbying to stop the violence in Sudan’s Darfur and other stars acting as UN goodwill ambassadors.
Nelson Mandela, whom Winfrey credited with inspiring her to build the school, interrupted his holiday to be at the ceremony.
Mandela, 88, looked frail as he was helped to the stage by his wife Graca Machel and Winfrey, but the anti-apartheid leader who became multiracial South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994 beamed with joy and his speech resonated with pride.
He told Winfrey: “This is not a distant donation but a project that clearly lies close to your heart.”
Winfrey’s girls sat attentively on stage in neat green-and-white uniforms. The poignant stories of some were told in a documentary about the school shown to guests. A few students greeted guests and media with Winfrey, clutching at her formal pink dress and holding her hand.
Maphefo Leputu, 12, from Soweto, who used to share a bed with her cousins, said she was overwhelmed at the prospect of her own room and bathroom and the chance to fulfil her ambition of becoming a lawyer.
“I would have had a completely different life is this hadn’t happened to me,” said 13-year-old Lesego Tlhabanyane, whose mother abandoned her when she was four. “Now I get a life where I get to be treated like a movie star.”
Earlier Winfrey said at a press conference that educating girls could have far-reaching benefits.
“Girls who are educated are less likely to get HIV/Aids and, in this country which has such a pandemic, we have to begin to change the pandemic,” she said.
Many of the girls come from families affected by the disease, which has infected 5.4 million of the 48 million population and hit women disproportionately hard.
Winfrey referred repeatedly to her own impoverished childhood and said she was grateful that she at least had a good education.
“I was a poor girl who grew up with my grandmother, like so many of these girls, with no water and electricity,” said the talk-show host.
She promised that she would continue to support the girls so they could attend any university in the world.
The idea for the school was born in 2000 at a meeting between Winfrey and Mandela. She said she decided to build the academy in South Africa rather than the United States out of love and respect for Mandela and because of her own African roots.
Built on 21 hectares, the 28-building campus resembles a luxury hotel with state-of-the-art classrooms, computer and science laboratories, a library, a theatre and a wellness centre. Each girl has a two-bedroom suite.
Winfrey said she chose “every brick, tile, sheet and spoon” because “if you are surrounded by beautiful things and wonderful teachers who inspire you, that beauty brings out the beauty in you”.
Some South Africans called the school elitist and a waste of money that could have been used to educate more children, but others applauded Winfrey.
“Any initiative which…enhances the quality of education and which enhances the possibility of a young person realising their dream to do better is a welcome opportunity,” Education Minister Naledi Pandor said of her efforts.
Despite government efforts to improve the school system, the education department said last week that two thirds of the 1,667,000 children who started school 12 years ago dropped out, and only 5% did well enough in their studies to be eligible to go to university.
State-funded schools, especially in the sprawling townships that sprang up under white rule, are plagued by gang violence, drugs and a high rate of teenage pregnancy.
Winfrey selected the 11- to-12-year-old girls for the school from 3,500 applications across the country. To qualify, they had to show both academic and leadership potential and have a household income of no more than 5,000 rand (€545.40) a month.
Winfrey, who is childless, said she was building a home for herself on the campus to spend time with the girls and be involved in their education.
“I love these girls with every part of my being,” she said. “I didn’t know you could feel this way about other people’s children.”
