Oprah Winfrey is firing back at critics of her decision to build a $40 million school complex in South Africa - saying she didn't build it in the U.S. because inner-city kids here don't appreciate the value of a free education.

"I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there," the TV talk-show maven says in the current issue of Newsweek.

"If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

The tough talk comes as the famously philanthropic Winfrey unveils her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa - a sprawling, 28-building complex for impoverished teens that features a yoga studio and beauty salon, among other luxuries.

The 22-acre complex has taken more than five years to build and has raised eyebrows in the U.S. and abroad, she said.

"I understand that many ...feel that I'm going overboard, and that's fine," Winfrey said. "This is what I want to do. I wanted to take girls with that 'it' quality and give them an opportunity to make a difference in the world."

Winfrey handpicked the 152 girls who will attend out of an application pool of more than 3,500. Winfrey has also supplied millions of dollars to educate needy children in the U.S. through the Oprah Winfrey Scholars program.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/sto...p-408116c.html

I agree with Oprah 100% on this.

In South Africa, decades of systematic inequality under apartheid will take a long time to be corrected through 'natural' increases in spending. The minority white population still enjoy enhanced educational opportunities compare3d to the African majority. Oprah's input is welcomed.

Children in the US do not need this investment, as the educational opportinities exist in a manner that the SA Black youths can dream of. If the inner-cities youth fail to take advantage of the opportun ites afforded to them, then that's their own problem. This is especially true of the current crop of AA children, whose foreberas struggled throughout the Civil Rights movents to give them the chance of a proper education.

It's for the current generation to take advantage of the opportunites afforded to them...

theres no pleasing some people. they will complain regardless. oprah has donated money to morehouse and other black colleges, and has a scholarship fund for needy black students. building a $40m school in the US will only make a little difference.

building one in SA will have a far bigger impact. i want to know what other so called "african-americans" are doing for africa.

it is a smart move by oprah, she see the benefits of free education to African children. i agree the people living in the west are lost, completely lost...you got a library right their in your hood and nobody is using it.

western media dont want western money helping our people....epecially if thr person is a pioneering black woman



but its ok for madonna to do what she wants in africa

people are always complaining about what Oprah doing with her money. unlike many black celebs who have a reached a certain level of success she has never forgotten her roots. she is always given back to the community. she always gives to africa aswell. this school is brilliant. why build a school in a country where there are established schools.

Oprah has given up she just made sure there was an avenue a way to help

The only problem with these black celebrities is they are comming into this PHILANTHROPY bandwagon and they have very bad advisors when it comes to issues relating to DEVELOPMENT matters



Why build a school in South Africa where the government is more capable than that of Zambia? why not CENTRAL AFRICA REPUBLIC? or BURKINA FASO? because she wants publicity coz she lives for it. RSA has nuclear submarines so it can take care of its schools



Danny Glover chose one issue and he did some proper research on Human Rights in HAITI and when he talks or speaks at the UN you know you are listening not to another Hollywood bandwagon celebrity

Look at Bono when he speaks about debt issues....he comes as someone who can tell you what sort of Mosquito nets are good for a country like Uganda and the same applies to CHRIS ROCK who comes as he knows more about what Ethiopian farmers are faced with

As of Madonna adoption i think we Africans from the continent have a different outlook on it and we have discussed it

Oprah has knowledge of SA and has been there a few times... which is why she probably looked there first. Shit if I was doing something like that I'd go for the familiar too.

Totally agree with her about kids in the west. Same situation in Britain. Kids far more interested in latest shoes, games, CDs than books. When in Africa I noticed as well that kids study far harder and with far more zeal and desire. I don't fault her one bit there.

Also... It's HER damn money!!

http://www.blackchat.co.uk/theblackf...m32/25918.html

Damn, Oprah is gangsta.

I agree it's her money and she can build a school on the moon if she wants.

But doesn't she sound a little like the female Bill Cosby?

Yes, ghetto kids generally have no sense. But it's still the Black middle and upper classes' responsibility to provide leadership in the inner city.

Their abdication of their responsibilities has left a void that's filled by the crass, vulgar materialism she decries.

Yes build a school in Soweto. But build one in Harlem too. If you show the kids you care about them you can change their attitudes.

I think she's a little bit hypocritical.