Oprah Winfrey, a name no doubt thought of when it comes to philanthropy, continues to change lives of many. In a tearful celebration on Saturday, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls celebrated it’s first graduating class of 72 young women. I can remember when Oprah first announced her plans for the school, I recall all of the negativity she received from naysayers wondering why she would build a school in South Africa, when there was need here in the US. I thought to myself then and I still believe that change is needed everywhere and I commend Oprah for what she did.
According to ABC News, some of the 400 girls come from homes so poor they didn’t even have their own beds. Mashadi Kekana grew up in Alexandria, one of South Africa’s most impoverished and violent townships. During her interview five years ago, she told Winfrey that if she was accepted she would never let the talk show host down.
“This class will prove that when you invest in the leadership of girls, you invest in a nation,” said Oprah.
Today Kekana graduated as one of the school’s top students and will be heading to the United States to attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts next fall on a full scholarship.
“Mom Oprah, thank you for showing us that we’re not just girls, but girls who have greater purpose in this world,” said Kekana in her graduation address as Winfrey’s eyes welled up with tears.
The school, was among a few in South Africa in which all of the students passed the high school graduation exam, and 72 of the original 75 members graduated from the school.
“The pride that I feel today is overpowering,” Winfrey said during her graduation speech. “I have been on a mission my whole life to be able to give back what I have been given. Today I am fulfilling that mission.”
According to published reports, in South Africa more than half a million members of the class of 2011 dropped out before the remaining 496,000 took their final exams. And only a quarter of those who graduated qualified for university study, according to government stats.
So what does this mean for the first class of graduates? It means that many of them defied the odds, they beat the system. These same young women, will go onto college, obtain degrees and because of the leadership, schooling and guidance they received will become productive citizens to the South Africa community, thus creating social change.
On behalf of the entire BCG Team, we offer our sincerest congrats to Oprah Winfrey and her stellar graduates!
