Oprah Opens a Second School in South Africa

Monday, March 19, 2007

Oprah Winfrey’s Angel Network has opened a second school in South Africa. On Friday, Oprah was on hand during the official opening ceremony of the Seven Fountain School located just outside the remote town of Kokstad in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province.

Oprah first visited the school in 2002 when it was being operated on a farm. Shortly thereafter, the school was forced to move to a new location. This new location turned out to be a run down building with no electricity or clean water supply. When hearing of the school’s plight, the Angel Network committed itself to providing the school with a new building. 

The result is a new $1.5 million school with electricity, 25 classrooms, a multi-purpose room, a library, a computer lab, 2 sporting fields, and a landscaped playground.  The area’s clean water source is unreliable; therefore, the Angel Network came up with a revolutionary idea of using the playground equipment as a means of pumping clean water up from deep within the earth.  In another inventive move, the school’s land is being used to raise crops in an effort to provide nutritious lunches to the children.

The region is under a restructuring program because it owes money to the World Bank for loans taken out during apartheid.  After the end of apartheid in the late 80’s, the country was left with repayment bills that were too high to manage. As a result most children in the area do not go to school due to user fees. Oprah, a firm believer in free education, has built Seven Fountain School to be run without these fees. They have even set up a night school so that local adults can learn to read, increase math skills, and learn to use the computer.

Oprah arrived at the school to chants of , “Long live Oprah”. Principal Veliswa Mnukwa praised Oprah and called her an angel, “This is the second time you are visiting us, but now it is a very different school ... Nothing compares with what you have done for us,” she said.  A student at the school, Nduli Amahle, 11, spoke to reporters and said, “I want to thank Oprah for giving us this school. It is going to change my life and help me become a doctor.”