Oprah Winfrey inspires South Africa and its youth in a stirring Madiba tribute speech: 'Never give up.'

In an hugely inspirational keynote address on Thursday afternoon in Soweto, Oprah Winfrey, who jetted to South Africa for her 36th visit, got several standing ovations for her stirring speech that was broadcast live on television, telling South Africa’s downtrodden youth to never give up, to be resilient and to find their strength in telling their stories.

Oprah Winfrey spoke at a packed auditorium in a Soweto event organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, entitled "Is’thunzi Sabafazi" (Dignity of Women).

Speaking about her 10 days she got to spend with Nelson Mandela before she built her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls school, Oprah Winfrey said "we are Mandela children, and we are his legacy. And his legacy speaks to us each time we choose unity over division. His legacy speaks to us each time we decide that we are going to fight for equality over domination and love over hate".

"The spirit of him abides with every man, every woman who listens with humility; everyone who says yes to breaking down a barrier, and not to putting up a wall. Who educates, rather than retaliates. He is with us every single time everybody casts a vote for democracy and casts a vote for freedom – he lives," said Oprah Winfrey.

About her school she built in 2007 she said "I built a school to give girls who look like me, who came from backgrounds like me, who didn't have the means but had the brainpower and the will to succeed, I wanted to give those girls a chance".

"And I will say that the experience of watching these daughters of South Africa find their voice and find their grace has made me think long and hard about the universe that our young leaders and graduating into today."

Some of the girls, many of whom were in the audience on Thursday, she said have gone on to graduate from universities in the United States, two graduated at Oxford, some from the University of Johannesburg, from NMMU, UCT, Wits, Pretoria, Stellenbosch and one just graduated as the first doctor from the University of Stellenbosch who got a standing ovation.

"I have right now 191 girls in college," Oprah Winfrey said, "20 of them in the United States".

"So here is my hope – not just for my girls, but for South Africans and human beings everywhere: I hope that we are able to continue to create a culture that recognises the responsibility that we have to one another."

"I know everybody can't build a school but you can take care of the person who is closest to you. You can help."

"You can ask the question how can I be used for something greater than myself? And in doing that, you align with Madiba's vision – both compassionate and practical. He knew that if one of us is wounded, all of us bleed. He knew that if one of us is lacking, all of us are somehow affected."

"We all need to roll up our sleeves wherever you are, whatever you can do, and begin to build a new future."

Never give up

"I want to say a word to the young dreamers of this nation. Madiba said a winner is a dreamer who never gives up," said Oprah Winfrey.

"I realise that the statistics are abysmal, that you're still the most vulnerable in the labour market with more than one in every three of you out of work. Do … not … give … up. Find a way,” she stressed amidst loud applause.

"I want you to know that your day will come. It's coming, it’s on its way, because of you. And I want you to know that I applaud your resilience."

Oprah Winfrey said it's one of the things she admires most about South African and the country's youth.

"The remarkable thing about every single girl who come to my school is all the trials and traumas they've been through. Most girls have experienced 6 major traumas by the time they get to my school and in spite of that they still rise."

"And so I say to all the young people, you too can rise. You are capable, you are brimming with the wisdom of all who came before you."

Tell your story

Oprah Winfrey said "tell your story. One of the things I've learnt from all of the girls at my school is when they came to my school they had such shame about their stories."

"Now we have a policy at my school that we are a trauma informed school, that knows and recognises that there's power in the story – that the story can liberate you: That everything that has ever happened to you, no matter how devastating, how matter how sorrowful, now matter how challenging – there is not one thing that happened to you, that did not also happened for you."

"Everything that has ever happened has happened to build your strength. And that strength equals power."

"So when you've been so so many trials and so many tribulations, what it does to you if you allow yourself to open up to the story that has come before you, what happens is it gives you power."

BREAKING. Exclusive Oprah Winfrey special documentary going inside her private girls' school, coming to TLC on 28 September.

You're reading it here first. 

South African viewers will be able to get their first real glimpse on television inside Oprah Winfrey's private school for girls with a new once-off special  documentary, The First Graduating Class: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls coming to TLC (TopTV 453  /DStv 186) on Friday 28 September at 18:30 (South African time).

The broadcasting of the special documentary which will be giving viewers an exclusive glimpse inside the school as it has never been seen before by outsiders, is timed to co-incide with the one year name-change of Discovery Travel & Living to TLC in October last year.

TLC is one of the few pay-TV channels available on both MultiChoice's DStv as well as On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV platform, making the channel widely available to a big pay-TV audience in South Africa.

The special documentary looks at Oprah Winfrey's effort to start and run the private school for girls, as well as at the lives of the girls with the first class of 72 girls who've now graduated and are now all attending university.

"I am honoured that our partnership with Discovery Networks has made it possible to present The First Graduating Class: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls to the TLC viewers of South Africa," says Oprah Winfrey in a statement.

"My heart holds a deep love and commitment to the people of South Africa, and to create a school that is able to change the trajectory of these student's lives has been one of the greatest gifts of my life."

"It's been a fantastic first year on air for TLC Africa and we're delighted with the incredibly positive reception the channel has had with South African women," says Lee Hobbs, the channel director for emerging business for Discovery networks for the Central and Eastern European, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region.

"We are proud to be sharing this beautiful journey with them and to be working wth Oprah to help celebrate the first graduating class of her Academy in South Africa. TLC is all about celebrating the lives of modern women and we feel the spirit and achievement of these first graduates at Oprah's Academy really embody the channel's ethos," says Lee Hobbs.

The documentary is repeated on Saturday 29 September at 17:40 and Sunday 30 September at 16:00.

BREAKING. Oprah Winfrey admits '101 mistakes' in starting her OWN TV channel; launched before it was ready.

Talk show icon Oprah Winfrey admitted ''101 mistakes'' in starting her own TV channel with moments of wanting to give up – and she revealed that it is similar to how hard it was establishing her South African school for girls which she also at times felt to abandon.

Meanwhile O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa is working on a stellar five star 10th birthday party set to take place in May in Cape Town for readers and a source told me Oprah Winfrey who is closing in on almost her 100th visit to South Africa since she opened her school, might possibly show up as a surprise guests for the big birthday.

Oprah Winfrey who launched the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) eight months ago told the CBS This Morning show in America today that her struggle with her new TV venture is similar to her South African school and that during starting both ventures she had moments where she wondered whether she wanted to continue.

''The idea of creating a TV network was a great idea; had I known it was this difficult, I might have done something else. I didn't think it was going to be easy bit if I had known then what I know now I might have made different choices. I can say that if I was writing a book about it, I would call the book 101 Mistakes.''

She said it was a mistake ''launching when we weren't ready to launch – and doing that because we announced that we're going to do it. It is like having the wedding when you know you're not ready. Looking back I should have waited until I’ve actually finished The Oprah Winfrey Show.''

Interviewer Charlie Rose asked Oprah Winfrey how she felt about all the unflattering stories about her OWN network not being an instant success after being ''such an icon and when you could do no wrong''.

''There's something you have to know,'' Oprah Winfrey said. ''No matter what anyone writes about you – and I learned this when I was doing The Color Purple with Steven Spielberg. At the time he was on the cover of TIME and he said he wasn't going to read it. And I said 'How can you not read it? You're on the cover of TIME magazine.' And he said 'because if you believe all the good stuff, then you have to believe it when people write things which are not flattering.'

''So you're right,'' said Oprah Winfrey, ''I've live in this sort of glow – for the past 10 years at least – but the climb up was also not as easy which a lot of people don't remember. Last week I saw one headline which sort of knocked me off centre – a USA Today headline saying ''Oprah Winfrey not quite standing on her OWN'' and that was uurgh''.

Oprah Winfrey said she wouldn't give up. ''I'm a very driven person. I believe I'm here to fulfil a calling. I'm a female, who's African American, who's been so blessed in this world. I will never quit. I will die in the midst of doing what I love to do and that is using my voice and using my life to try and inspire other people to live the best of theirs.''

Of all the stories about OWN not getting viewers fast enough she said ''it's just negative press''. ''Just  because a thing appears to not be doing well, because you've failed – and we haven't failed – because something fails, doesn't make you a failure. And when you know that, you can keep trying. Actually I feel better about OWN today than what I ever have. The most painful thing for me was to have to let people go. I had to lay off 30 people.''

''Our strategy for the channel is to now do what we should have done from the beginning, which is to build one show, one hour, one night at a time – and then move to the next night. I said from the beginning this channel can't be based upon me. It has to be based on my philosophy and my ideas. What I want to create and will create is a platform where people can come and not waste their time and where its always meaningful.''

''Two of my girls from The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa were competing in the United Nations Conference at Cornell this weekend – they were part of the South African debate team,'' said Oprah Winfrey. ''To see girls who, five years ago, some of them carrying buckets of water on their head, now sitting at Cornell debating about Cambodian civil war is simply extraordinary. To keep running the school was also hard because lots of people said it wouldn't work, its 8 000 miles away, and there's times when I wanted to give up on that too. The payoff is having girls now – 100% of the first class – all going to colleges.''

Meanwhile O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa is working on a stellar five star 10th birthday party set to take place on Wednesday May 2 at The Table Bay hotel in Cape Town with 100 readers as well as celebrities who will be attending. Rumours are now swirling that Oprah Winfrey herself, who is fast closing in on 100 trips since she opened her school, might possibly attend her magazine's 10th birthday as part of a big surprise.

South Africa is the only country that has it’s own customized version of her international magazine. The 100 lucky readers will be the ones who find a golden ticket in the April issue of the O Magazine. ''Let's just say you really want to one of the lucky people who is there,'' an insider told me. ''I can't believe a decade has come and gone so fast,'' says O Magazine editor, Samantha Page.

Oprah Winfrey on her South African school, educating girls, and charity work: 'It's like looking into the face of who I used to be.'

Oprah Winfrey says people can easily feel ''overwhelmed'' by charity work and community service but should ''not be confused by the voices of the world telling you what you're supposed to do'' and focus on what you are able to do and give.

The talk show host of The Oprah Winfrey Show (SABC3, weekdays, 17:30) in a new interview that was streamed on Facebook with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg talked about her South African school, The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLA) and talked about how investing in a girl changes communities. ''Investing in a girl changes not the face of one person but at least 5 people. And if that girl goes into her community, you've affected an entire community,'' she said.

Oprah Winfrey gave a one hour interview to Sheryl Sandberg in front of Facebook employees and which was streamed on Facebook. ''What lessons could you teach governments about investing in girls?'' asked Sheryl Sandberg.

''I have 400 girls at my Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. The first graduating class will be at the end of this year. Im so proud of my daughters. They call me Mom Oprah,'' Oprah Winfrey said. ''This first class and 2nd class - I actually went out and handpicked every one of those girls, going village to village and to province after province. I know this whether you're a government or a just person: when you invest in a girl, you change a community.''

''When you invest in a girl, a girl – unlike boys, not to disparate men – girls are far more likely in every study ever been done, if a woman or girl is educated she is going to educate her children. If she's educated she's far more likely to have fewer children, she's more likely to use protection, she's more likely to take care of herself and her children. She's going to take what she's learnt and share that with her entire community. Investing in a girl changes not the face of one person but at least 5 people. And if that girl goes into her community you've affected an entire community.''

Oprah Winfrey said ''people get very overwhelmed. The way of being of service is answering the call for yourself: What is it that you want to do and what is it that you want to give? Not to be confused by the voices of the world telling you what you're supposed to do.''

''If you are going to try and help Africa for example, you can become completely overwhelmed. You don't know where to begin; there never is an end to all the help that you can do. Focus on what you can do. For me it was education. I knew as a coloured girl - now African-American - that without an education I wouldn't be who I am.''

''I wanted to give back what I've been given. I advise other people to do what relates to you. Do what stimulates you. Giving to girls is what stimulates me. It's like looking into the face of who I used to be and now seeing what they can become. Investing in a girl is the best thing I think that you can do,'' said Oprah Winfrey.

Watch the hour long interview:

BREAKING. Oprah auctioning off her clothes to benefit her South African school.

Photo: Ruven Afanador

Oprah Winfrey (SABC3, weekdays, 17:30) is auctioning off her clothes to benefit her Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls here in South Africa.

The talk show queen's clothes just went on auction on eBay! According to oprah.com, O magazine's creative director Adam Glassman, he helped Oprah to ''say farewell to dozens of old favourites, all being auctioned off on eBay to benefit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa''.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls at Henley-on-Klip now enrolls about 300 girls and Oprah Winfrey has just said that she has already picked out her outfit to wear when she return to South Africa in 2011 when the first girls matriculate and when, it seems, there will be a special graduation ceremony for them held at the school.