{"id":7050,"date":"2012-01-14T20:43:11","date_gmt":"2012-01-14T18:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/01\/first-class-graduates-from-oprahs-s-africa-school\/"},"modified":"2012-01-14T20:43:11","modified_gmt":"2012-01-14T18:43:11","slug":"first-class-graduates-from-oprahs-s-africa-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/first-class-graduates-from-oprahs-s-africa-school\/","title":{"rendered":"First class graduates from Oprah’s S.Africa school"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By Ndundu Sithole and Jon Herskovitz<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

HENLEY ON KLIP, South Africa<\/span> Jan 14 (Reuters) – Talk
\nshow host Oprah Winfrey proudly saw the first class of girls
\nfrom disadvantaged backgrounds graduate on Saturday from her $40
\nmillion school in South Africa.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girl celebrated the
\ngraduation of 72 girls. Wearing white dresses, the girls were
\ncheered on by their families.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The pride that I feel today is overpowering,” Winfrey said
\nat the graduation. “I have been on a mission my whole life to be
\nable to give back what I have been given. Today I am fulfilling
\nthat mission.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“This class will prove that when you invest in the
\nleadership of girls, you invest in a nation,” said Winfrey, who
\nherself emerged from childhood poverty to become one of the most
\ninfluential women on American television.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The facility opened to much fanfare in 2007 with former
\nSouth African President Nelson Mandela on hand along with U.S.
\ncelebrities including singer Tina Turner, filmmaker Spike Lee
\nand comedian Chris Rock.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The graduation celebration, attended by Mandela’s wife Graca
\nMachel, was a rarity for the country’s high schools.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’m very glad. I’m very happy. I feel blessed, you know.
\nThe girls look like angels,” said a grandmother of one of the
\ngraduates.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ndundu Sithole and Jon Herskovitz HENLEY ON KLIP, South Africa Jan 14 (Reuters) – Talk show host Oprah Winfrey proudly saw the first class of girls from disadvantaged backgrounds graduate on Saturday from her $40 million school in South Africa. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girl celebrated the graduation of 72 girls. Wearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-7050","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}