US television talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey opened a US$40 million school for poor South African girls last Tuesday, fulfilling a promise she made to Nelson Mandela six years ago.
Winfrey, a regular visitor to South Africa, officially unveiled the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls at Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg, with Mandela and several other famous names, such as Tina Turner and Mariah Carey, also attending the ceremony.
The facility, funded entirely by Winfrey's foundation, is spread over 21 hectares and is composed of 28 buildings with modern classrooms, a dormitory, computer and science laboratories and an auditorium.
PHOTO: AFP
It will provide free education to 152 girls from poor families drawn from all of South Africa's nine provinces.
They are aged between 11 and 13 and were chosen for their intelligence and leadership qualities.
When Winfrey visited South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela six years ago he asked her to fund worthy causes. She initially pledged US$9.7 million for the school but ended up giving four times as much funding.
She personally chose the doors, tiles, towels and bedsheets for the school, whose aim is to turn the pupils into a "new generation of leaders."
In an interview with South African television earlier this year she said she had dreamed of the color of the bricks for the building.
Winfrey, born to unmarried teenaged parents in Mississippi, overcame a poverty-stricken and troubled childhood to become one of the world's top television personalities. (AFP)
美國電視脫口秀女王歐普拉.溫芙瑞上週二為她斥資四千萬美元的南非貧窮女子學校開幕剪綵,實現她六年前對南非前總統尼爾森.曼德拉的承諾。
時常造訪南非的歐普拉,正式為位於約翰尼斯堡南方Henley-on-Klip的「歐普拉女子領導學校」揭幕,曼德拉、蒂娜.透娜、瑪莉亞.凱莉等名人也一同出席開幕典禮。
這所學校全由歐普拉的基金會資助,佔地二十一公頃,包含二十八棟校舍,備有現代化教室、宿舍、電腦與科學實驗室及大禮堂。
學校將免費教育南非九省的一百五十二位貧窮家庭的女童。
學童的年紀介於十一到十三歲之間,因具備智力與領導特質而入選。
歐普拉六年前拜訪南非反種族分離的領導人物曼德拉時,曼德拉提出了資助慈善事業的請求。歐普拉原高先允諾支助學校九百七十萬美元,但最後的捐贈金額高達四倍。
歐普拉並親自挑選學校的門、瓷磚、毛巾與床單。學校宗旨在教育學童成為「新生代領導者」。
歐普拉今年初接受南非電視台訪問時表示,她還夢到建築磚瓦的顏色。
歐普拉出生於密西西比州,父母青少年時期即未婚生下她,她歷經貧困交織的童年,蛻變成全球頂尖的電視名人。
(法新社/翻譯:賴美君)
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