“I WANT TO BE A LEADER!”

06/04/07 03:19 Filed in: Other
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Two weeks ago I was watching TV and came across one of the most emotionally driving documentary entitled, “Building a Dream.” The documentary featured Oprah Winfrey’s five-year journey to erect and recruit the students of Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. The project was originally launched by Oprah Winfrey’s public pledge, proclaimed in front of Nelson Mandela, to build a state-of-the-art school for girls in South Africa with an endowment of 10 million dollars.
In watching the documentary, one becomes aware of two pivotal truths that we often overlook, or take for granted: (1) The power of education (2) being thankful and content for what we have. The students, many of who featured in the documentary came from poverty struck backgrounds. A large number of students lived in houses with no electricity or indoor plumbing, and almost all of them had lost a parent to HIV/AIDS or some alternate type of turbulent death. The girls are on average, 13 years old.
Watching the determination of these young girls drives you to get into direct contact with your humanity. Regardless of their backgrounds and hardships, they nevertheless are students who have excelled in school and provided help to their colleagues. A specific student, who is 12 years old, offers a poetry class after school to her peers, and while she comes from a very poor background, she does so for free! The girl that caught my attention was Zohe, 12 years old. In her interview she proclaimed, “South Africa should have a women president women because women can multi-task,” and with an unequivocal persistence announced, “I want to be a leader!” To my friends’ disarray and ultimate surprise I retrieved strength from low in my lungs and yelled, “YES!!!”
The academy is a true symbol for hope and leadership in our poverty struck, war-hidden world. For such spirit and passion to be found a land that only recently was able to overcome bigotry and hate is a breath of fresh and positive air to us all. You can support the academy by visiting their website and making a donation to one of its myriad causes. You can also order the DVD featuring the “Building a Dream” documentary, which I feel is a MUST SEE FOR ALL.

Source: Photo


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MHG
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