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Oprah opens school in South Africa

Andrew Meldrum

Henley-on-Klip (SOUTH AFRICA): Oprah Winfrey was already the planet's most watched talkshow host, one of America's most successful magazine publishers, a billionaire, an Oscar-nominated actor, the most important black philanthropist in the U.S. and, according to several assessments, the most influential woman in the world.

So from one perspective, the school that she opened for 152 poor South African girls outside Johannesburg on Tuesday was perhaps not all that significant. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls also features computer and science laboratories, a theatre, library, gymnasium, health centre, sports fields and a beauty salon.

On what she called ``the proudest, gravest day of my life,'' Ms. Winfrey pledged, at an opening ceremony attended by former South African President Nelson Mandela and a clutch of celebrities that she would make the school ``the best in the world'', helping its pupils ``change the face of the nation''. To qualify for a place in the school, the girls had to show academic and leadership potential and have a household income of less than $800 a month. ``When you educate a girl you begin to change the face of a nation,'' Ms. Winfrey said. Attending the school would ``change the trajectory of these girls' lives. They will excel and pass their excellence on to their families, their nation and our world. I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light.''

Ms.Winfrey said the number of pupils at the academy would increase to 450 in the next four years. She is planning another secondary school for boys and girls in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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