Oprah Doesn’t Want to Donate iPods

Oprah Winfrey has said donating money to charity is not enough.

The chat show host spent five years and $40 million dollars building a
school for poor girls in South Africa because she wanted to feel closer to
the people she was helping.

Oprah told Newsweek: "I really became frustrated with the fact that all I
did was write check after check. At a certain point, you want to feel that
connection. These girls deserve to be surrounded by beauty, and beauty does
inspire.

"I wanted this to be a place of honor for them because these girls have
never been treated with kindness. They've never been told they are pretty or
have wonderful dimples. I wanted to hear those things as a child."

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, which is situated near
Johannesburg, helps girls aged 12 and 13.

The lavish school has 28 buildings situated on 22 acres and includes huge
fireplaces in every building, a yoga studio, indoor and outdoor theatres and
a beauty salon.

However, it has been criticised for being too extravagant for such an
impoverished country.



Meanwhile this is what Oprah had to say about inner city kids in the U.S:

"I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools [in the U.S.]," she revealed to 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."