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Oprah's R160m Christmas gift to SA
Roger Friedman. Republished from the Saturday Star, 20 December 2002, courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd
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South Africa has received a R160-million Christmas gift from Oprah Winfrey. She will have distributed her message of hope and about R70 million worth of gifts to 50 000 South African children by the time the dust settles on Sunday on the children's Christmas party she is co-hosting with Nelson Mandela at his home in Qunu.
On top of this, her Oprah Winfrey Foundation has committed R90-million to the erection and maintenance of an Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Gauteng.
What was initially conceived by Oprah Winfrey as an opportunity to spread Christmas cheer among poor children in South Africa has developed over the past three weeks into a long-term commitment to raise international awareness of the plight of AIDS orphans.
"I don't know where it will end up," Winfrey said in an exclusive interview for Independent Newspapers. "I originally came with the idea of giving gifts, but the very first day here (she hosted a children's party at the Expo Centre in Joburg) was a life-changing day for me."
In 20 gruelling days, Winfrey has hosted 12 Christmas Kindness parties for 63 schools in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. She has hosted parties at orphanages and for orphans, visited hospitals and come face-to-face with the poverty and squalour in which so many South Africans still live.
"Before I came I didn't know where this would lead, but that first day's experience with children from the orphanages and clinics, many of them with HIV/AIDS, made me realise there was a higher calling for me. Ultimately, my work here will involve helping to create stability for the orphans, and for girls. What went on there was far bigger than anything I've ever done."
Winfrey said she had been thrilled by the spirit of South Africa's youth and angered by the non-availability of anti-retroviral drugs in public hospitals, but what struck her most, she said, was the number of children denied the opportunity to be children because of the death of their parents. "What happens to a generation of children left to fend for themselves? Unless someone does something now the orphans will change the face of this country and the continent," she said.
"When we go home next week and begin to download this experience, it is my intention to work out how best to use my name, my resources and access to other resources to benefit the crisis of orphans in this country," Winfrey said.
Winfrey said her decision to visit and share her wealth and knowledge with SA was because of her historic identification with the anti-apartheid struggle, her friendship with Nelson Mandela and her love for the country which she has visited twice before.
She originally broached the idea of doing something special in SA with the former president in New York earlier this year. Mandela linked her up with his Nelson Mandela Foundation, which helped put the trip together.
Winfrey said: "I have a very strong connection to Madiba. He is my greatest living mentor. It is one of the great honours of my life to spend time with him. I gain strength from his strength. The idea for this entire initiative was inspired by the parties he hosts every year at his home."
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