‘Newsweek’: Oprah’s School in Africa

PRESS CLIPPINGSBy Sam Kean

Oprah Winfrey has spent $40-million over the past five years to build a school for girls that opened last week in a town 40 miles outside of Johannesburg, reports Newsweek magazine (January 8).

The school, which has 28 buildings on 22 acres, includes a yoga studio, beauty salon, indoor and outdoor theaters, and hundreds of pieces of original tribal artworks.

The school has attracted much criticism for its extravagance, and such concerns apparently prompted the South African government to pull out of a partnership to build the school with Ms. Winfrey, the magazine says.

But Ms. Winfrey is not bothered by the criticism: “These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does inspire,” she said.

She said she decided to build her own school — rather than finance a charity that would carry out the task — because she wanted the chance to be involved in the details of her philanthropy.

“When I first started making a lot of money,” she says, “I really became frustrated with the fact that all I did was write check after check to this charity or that charity without really feeling like it was part of me. At a certain point, you want to feel that connection.”

The article is available at http://newsweek.com.