''More challenging than I ever imagined.''
So says Oprah Winfrey about starting and running her private school for girls near Henley-on-Klip, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which the talk show titan just visited this past weekend for her 29th time to attend a special graduation ceremony for the 72 girls who are the first class to matriculate.
Speaking to Godfrey Mutizwa in Africa Prime in an exclusive sit-down interview earlier this evening on CNBC Africa (DStv 410), Oprah Winfrey said ''there were times when I was brought to tears and to my knees with this whole process.''
''Even I going into it, didn’t recognize the responsibility of taking in girls whose parents can't afford to send them to such a school.'' She said ''the challenges were number one not having the infrastructure. Number two not recognizing how difficult it is to create a structure and believing in the beginning that I will build this wonderful space, this building and the teachers will come – that I will be able to find great teachers.''
''If I had to do it again, I would do it in completely a different way. For every step forward it was two steps back. But from day one I visited the very first village and saw the very first girl, I held a vision for myself and for these girls of what could be possible for them. And because of the girls, everything has been worth it,'' she said.
Of her school she says ''this is just the beginning. The point was to use this as a model – as sort of an experiment – to see if it could be done. We're doing what no-one else has ever done here. Never have I've seen an institution created for disadvantaged girls that wasn't just a holding ground for them before they have to go out.''
''When I think about where these girls have come from - I found some of them walking, carrying buckets of water on their heads walking three or four kilometres a day – now those girls are not just going to college, they're going to college with four and five and six distinctions. And they will become artists and engineers; they will become social workers; scientists.''
Oprah Winfrey said she thought ''that you will just open the door and good teachers will just fall through. That is not so. Your school is only as good as your teachers. You can turn a school around with just one or two really great teachers. They can turn an entire school around. They can change the culture. So having solid leadership who understands what it means to create an environment that is 100% supportive of girls is important.''
''Every girl here has already endured what would take out most people. Most people – particularly in high school – if you have one bad thing happen to you, it can take you out. These girls come to this school with the most devastating things.''
''Every single week there is another tragedy at this school but these girls go on. They keep getting up. They're the most resilient people I have seen in my life and they come with such an open heart for hope. The fundamental key of success is what you believe about yourself. Not what you want, but what you believe.''
ALSO READ: Oprah Winfrey called sexual molestation scandal at her school ''our little crisis''; still and will always believe the girls.
ALSO READ: Oprah Winfrey on the hair-raising problem at her private school for girls: ''Now weaves have hit Africa and it's a lot harder!''
ALSO READ: Oprah Winfrey opens up about starting and running OWN, her Oprah Winfrey Network: ''Far more challenging than I imagined.''
ALSO READ: O so superstitious! Oprah Winfrey believes in round numbers ... and reveals why!
ALSO READ: Oprah Winfrey on if she will be endorsing Barack Obama for a 2nd term as president of the United States: ''He doesn't need me.''
