Oprah Winfrey opened a school Tuesday for disadvantaged girls, fulfilling a promise she made to former South Africa President Nelson Mandela six years ago and giving more than 150 students a chance for a better future.
“I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light,” Winfrey said at a news conference.
Mandela, 88, attended the opening ceremony of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in the small town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg. He looked frail as he was helped on to the stage by Winfrey and Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel. But he beamed with joy and his speech resonated with pride.
“It is my hope that this school will become the dream of every South African girl and they will study hard and qualify for the school one day,” he said.
Mandela thanked Winfrey for the “personal time and effort” she devoted to the school.
“This is not a distant donation but a project that clearly lies close to your heart,” said the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
