Oprah's Journey to South Africa
On December 6, 2002 Oprah stood under the hot sun in a hard hat and with all of her strength she jabs the shovel into the ground digging out the first piece of land on the site of the Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls. Standing right next to her in the hot climate of South Africa is the world-renowned civil rights activist and former president of the South Africa, Nelson Mandela. The school will provide education for girls grades 7-12 and will be devoted in the honor of 450 young talented women. Children, women, and families around the world pledged more than 10 million dollars to help build and maintain the school. Oprah poured her heart into the project and this is what it looks like today:
In South Africa Oprah also traveled throughout the country giving out over 50,000 Christmas presents filled with clothing and toys to orphans. She made an episode about it about it called "Christmas Kindness South Africa 2002". This experience was life changing to the orphans but more so to Oprah herself. To her seeing the joy on their faces changed her. She said:
"I realized...joy has texture... if there's enough of it, you can feel it in the room...
I said in that moment, 'Okay God, I get it."
For some of the children it was to overwhelming. Oprah recalls a girl to excited to open the present. She sat there kissing the plastic. At the end every kid got a picture with Oprah to keep. Oprah also recalls it being the best day in her life just to see the joy on their faces.
"I realized...joy has texture... if there's enough of it, you can feel it in the room...
I said in that moment, 'Okay God, I get it."
For some of the children it was to overwhelming. Oprah recalls a girl to excited to open the present. She sat there kissing the plastic. At the end every kid got a picture with Oprah to keep. Oprah also recalls it being the best day in her life just to see the joy on their faces.