Gary愛分享 (Gary Love Share)

Oprah Winfrey Opened A School in South Africa

Oprah Winfrey (歐普拉), the host of the Oprah Winfrey Show, a influential book critic, a magazine, and the richest African American of the 20th century and the world's only Black billionaire for three straight years (rated by Fobes magazine), opened a school Tuesday in South Africa for under-privileged girls to fulfill her promise made to former President Nelson Mandela six years ago.

I used to watch Oprah's show on Star World Channel. She's a very warm-hearted woman and she is like a delegate sent by God from above to bring love and happiness to the general public. A lot of public figures or celebrities care about their fame and fortune very much. Not every one can have a big heart like her when they become famous and have clout at the society. Or maybe there are a lot of people doing the good deeds anomymously and they don't want to reveal their true identities.

This school is geared for those girls from deprived or disadvantaged background. The Acadmy received Around 3,500 applicants from across the country applied to this Academy and a total of 152 girls (aged 11 and 12) were accepted. All of those qualfiers were selected by Oprah in person. As most people know, the apartheid policy was carried out in South Africa before. Although the policy was abolished, racial discrimination, and the gap between the rich and the poor are still big hindrance to the nation's education and all that. In fact, the whole society is still mostly dominated by the white people. Besides, HIV/ AIDS is a thorny problem in Africa. In this continent, it has the most people infected with HIV/AIDS. Under this circumstance, what can the Academy do with those problems? Just like what Oprah put, "girls who are educated are less likely to get HIT/AIDS, and in this country which has such a pandemic, we have to begin to change the pandemic." I totally agree with her. As far as I know, there are several ways to get HIV. One is "dirty needles", another is "born with it", another is "blood transfusion" and the other is "sex". Sometimes lack of education can make people more ignorant when they have sex or do drugs. So, I do believe education can help reduce the infection rate of HIV.

The reason why the news impressed me big time is that Oprah is an African American. She didn't come from a wonderful family. Instead, she was a poor girl who grew up with her grandmother at a family with no water and electricity. She owed her success to the education she had received. And she believed that education was the most important aspect of her life. The reason why she set up the school is not only because of her promise made to former President Nelson Mandela of South Africa, but also because of her African roots. I was truly touched by this. People easily foget where they are from, especially when they get famous and become filthy rich, but she doesn't. More people look down on those who come from the same roots because they are ashamed of where they are from, but Oprah doesn't. Instead, she tries to help those who are in need. That's why I admire her so much. Compared to a lot of famous public figures and powerful politicians, Oprah Winfrey is noble, humble and genuine. Maybe she's the real practitioner of "great power comes with great responsibilities."

For more info on this story or Oprah Winfrey, please check out the following websites.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070102/ap_en_tv/people_winfrey_4

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-01-02-winfrey-school_x.htm?csp=34

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah

http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml