Oprah's Leadership Academy

Last Monday I watched a special on ABC. It was on Oprah Winfrey's new school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa. I had seen the previews the week before and knew I wanted to watch. It was an incredibly inspiring program. Oprah went back to her homeland of South Africa and decided to build a school for girls there. The coolest part of the program is when they showed the interviews of the girls applying to the school. Oprah basically went around to all these different villages looking for girls who would be interested in attending the school. Once she found them, she had them come in for interviews. You can't even imagine the circumstances and family backgrounds these young girls had. They all looked around the age of junior high, but what took me by surprise was their attitudes. These are girls that often live with just one parent or grandparent. They live in shacks (at best) with no inside running water or electricity. They showed one such shack with a single bed that is shared by the 5 in the family. Food is scarce and they often rely on one meal a week. A week?! I get cranky when I only get 1 meal in a day. In order to get to school, they often have to travel over an hour and awaken before dawn to catch the bus. I am not sure what I expected of them considering their background, but needless to say it wasn't much. Well, my preconceived notions were shattered. They each came in confidently and excited to meet Oprah. They were eager to express themselves and did so in articulate ways. They informed Oprah of their talents, their intelligence, their hopes, their desires, their dreams. I think Oprah fell in love with each of them. How could you not? They were all excited and spunky and beautiful. They knew they had nothing and yet they knew what they wanted and they knew to value the opportunity in front of them. One of them was bold enough to ask about college. She posed the question to Oprah, "what happens if we graduate from this school? what if we want to go to college? who will pay for that?" They cut to a commerical break right then. I hate it when they do that! Upon return of the program, Oprah informed the girl that she would. Any girl that graduates from Oprah's school can choose any university in the world and provided they get in, Oprah will pay for it. Amazing! Later in the program they showed the opening of the school and all the girls arriving. The girls live on campus in their own room with a roommate. They were given all new clothing - including uniforms for school. The school is complete with computer labs and all sorts of equipment. I am proud to say that HP donated over $500,000 in computer equipment along with technical support for the next several years. The looks on these girls faces as they embraced all of this was priceless. I was moved to tears watching it all. Awesome. It was such a beautiful picture of hope and love. I was inspired and encouraged. I prayed for those girls and all those to come. I hope their dreams come true and beyond. They are the future leaders of South Africa. They have the power to change their lives, the lives of their families and of their country. I hope they see it all come true.

And then came my conviction. It is easy to think that because Oprah has a lot of money she can do all this stuff but that we can't. But the reality is we are called to love. We are called to reach out. So, how am I doing in that realm? Do I reach out to the less fortunate? Do I think of ways to help the poor and the disadvantaged? Sure, from time to time. But not often enough. Not as a priority. I would like to change that. I would like to be overcome with compassion that moves me to action. I may not be able to build big schools or provide vaccines to every child with AIDs, but surely I can do something. I intend to do so. I will start by caring. Really caring. And really praying. And asking God to do something big through me or even something small. But something. Then I will see those smiling faces again. I will see their eyes shine and their joy overflow. And I will know deep in my heart that I have done what I am suppose to do, what I was made to do.