Oprah Builds South Africa School
Oprah Winfrey spent $40 million to build a leadership academy for girls in South Africa.
Frustrated with just donating money to charities, Oprah Winfrey says she built a school for poor girls in South Africa because she wanted to feel closer to the people she was trying to help.
“I really became frustrated with the fact that all I did was write check after check,” she told Newsweek magazine. “At a certain point, you want to feel that connection.”
Winfrey spent five years and $40 million to build the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls outside Johannesburg. The school for 12- and 13-year-old girls has 28 buildings on 22 lush acres. The school includes huge fireplaces in every building, a yoga studio, indoor and outdoor theaters and a beauty salon. People criticized her, saying the school is too lavish for such an impoverished country.
“These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire,” she told the magazine. “I wanted this to be a place of honor for them because these girls have never been treated with kindness. They’ve never been told they are pretty or have wonderful dimples. I wanted to hear those things as a child.”
A very generous gesture, although one would think she could have found poor people in the United States to help.
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Why do you say ‘poor people in the US’???….you live in a first world country….not to negate the US poor who find it very difficult to get ahead (if not impossible)…I know they are there and plentiful but don’t knock it when people try to help other countries besides the US…very egocentric!!…other countries need help too(maybe way more than we do??)…Kudos to Oprah!! Putting her money where her mouth is….besides, she help US people every day!! I hope she does more of this….’if you educate a women, you educate a family’….