Oprah Winfrey will jet in to South Africa again in January 2012 for a very special event with a dress she specifically chose and kept for the upcoming occasion five years ago already.
The talk show host who now runs her Oprah Winfrey Network or OWN TV channel in America and who received an educational honourary degree from the Free State University this year, will be back again in January for a special graduation ceremony of her first class of girls to pass matric at The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls at Henley-on-Klip.
Oprah Winfrey who continues to pump millions of her own money into her school, has decided to also pay for the tertiary education of her students. While some have received bursaries, Winfrey is footing the bill for the 72 girls finishing high school this year. All of the school's first matric class will go on to tertiary study at acclaimed universities and colleges across America while a few chose to study in South Africa.
''I know this whether you're a government or just a person: when you invest in a girl, you change a community,'' Oprah Winfrey told Sheryl Lansberg, COO of the social network Facebook in a televised and online interview in September.
While The Oprah Winfrey Show is in the last of its repeat run on SABC3, the webcasts on her Facebook page that can be watched any time, has attracted such a huge following that it's been added to her TV channel to help boost viewership for the struggling channel.
Meanwhile her new talk show, Oprah's Next Chapter will also start in January on OWN as a series of on-location interviews with thought leaders and celebrities.
About the webcasts Oprah Winfrey says ''people are acting and interacting with us at the same time. It's just a fantastic experience. I'm going to build on the success of the connection the the web response so I'm really excited about it.''
