On the Road to Oprah’s Academy
Thursday, March 1
When Juanita planned the itinerary for the South Africa portion of her Random Acts project, she included a visit to the new Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
The visit wasn’t for her to go and hand out school supplies to students or give money to the teachers. For obvious reasons, Oprah’s academy didn’t need her help in that respect.
Juanita wanted to visit Oprah’s Academy partly just to be able to say that she had been there.
But she also had a symbolic reason for wanting to go.
She wanted to visit one of the monuments of a woman she considers a kindred spirit.
“I couldn’t come to South Africa and do random acts of kindness and not see where the biggest act of kindness has been bestowed by someone I had been admiring for more than 20 years,” she said.
Visiting Oprah’s academy would have been one of the highlights of Juanita’s two-week Random Acts charitable giving and documentary tour through South Africa, Swaziland and Senegal.
But despite her best efforts, she was unable to arrange an official tour of the school in time for her trip which started on February 25 and ends March 11.
So she settled for the next best thing.
She arranged a drive-by visit.
Since Juanita and the rest of us would already be riding around the Johannesburg area searching for people to surprise with acts of kindness, she decided to have her driver Cromwell include the road that leads to Oprah’s academy.
Cromwell dutifully complied but was apprehensive. The well-traveled road that leads to the school gets even more traffic since Oprah built the $40 million school which opened in January. Cromwell’s boss advised him to avoid traveling there if he could help it.
When Juanita and the rest of us got outside of Johannesburg and reached the village of Henly-on-Klip and they were only minutes away from Oprah’s academy. But it took nearly an hour before we got there because Juanita saw several opportunities to perform random acts along the way.
She stopped to give money to two young mothers standing at an intersection holding babies in their arms. She did the same for an older woman seated on the ground a few yards away.
A few minutes later Ms. Britton was out of the bus again to greet Paulina Nai and her 20-year-old son Joseph who were walking along the road. After a brief greeting she discreetly placed money in each of their hands.
“It’s not much,” she said. “I just want to show you how much I love you.”
Both of them thanked Juanita and gave her a hug her before she got back on the bus.
“I was broke, but not anymore,” said Joseph to one of Ms. Britton’s documentary dream team members. “At least I have pocket money now.”
I asked Joseph’s mother what was on her mind before Juanita appeared with the unexpected gift.
She paused for a few seconds then said, “I was saying to myself that I don’t know if I am going to have enough money to get my children something to eat.” Then she started crying. Her tears started a chain reaction. Robin, who was standing nearby, started to cry. So did I.
“There it is, Oprah's Leadership Academy!” Juanita is shouting and pointing out of the window of the bus as excited as a child.
The buildings of Oprah’s school sit on a sprawling 52 acres of well-manicured and are set far back from the road. Ms. Britton and her team are able to see several students on the property who appear to be playing. Groundskeepers are also busy at work. It is after 3 p.m. and campus security is everywhere—cruising the grounds and driving along the perimeter of the property.
Cromwell drives slowly so Ms. Britton and her team can see and shoot as much as they can but he also follows the direction of the security guards who allow them to look but signal him to keep moving.
A fleeting drive-by tour of the Oprah Leadership Academy for Girls was not the way Juanita had envisioned her first visit there would be. But the glimpse from the roadside was enough to make her even more determined to revisit under more official circumstances.
“I never wanted to interrupt the moments of the girls’ day in school,” she said. “I just wanted to feel the energy of the massive project. Maybe one day I will be able to do something like that.”
Visit: http://www.randomactsfoundation.com/story.html
Video: http://www.ibroadcasts.tv/randomacts.html
When Juanita planned the itinerary for the South Africa portion of her Random Acts project, she included a visit to the new Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls.
The visit wasn’t for her to go and hand out school supplies to students or give money to the teachers. For obvious reasons, Oprah’s academy didn’t need her help in that respect.
Juanita wanted to visit Oprah’s Academy partly just to be able to say that she had been there.
But she also had a symbolic reason for wanting to go.
She wanted to visit one of the monuments of a woman she considers a kindred spirit.
“I couldn’t come to South Africa and do random acts of kindness and not see where the biggest act of kindness has been bestowed by someone I had been admiring for more than 20 years,” she said.
Visiting Oprah’s academy would have been one of the highlights of Juanita’s two-week Random Acts charitable giving and documentary tour through South Africa, Swaziland and Senegal.
But despite her best efforts, she was unable to arrange an official tour of the school in time for her trip which started on February 25 and ends March 11.
So she settled for the next best thing.
She arranged a drive-by visit.
Since Juanita and the rest of us would already be riding around the Johannesburg area searching for people to surprise with acts of kindness, she decided to have her driver Cromwell include the road that leads to Oprah’s academy.
Cromwell dutifully complied but was apprehensive. The well-traveled road that leads to the school gets even more traffic since Oprah built the $40 million school which opened in January. Cromwell’s boss advised him to avoid traveling there if he could help it.
When Juanita and the rest of us got outside of Johannesburg and reached the village of Henly-on-Klip and they were only minutes away from Oprah’s academy. But it took nearly an hour before we got there because Juanita saw several opportunities to perform random acts along the way.
She stopped to give money to two young mothers standing at an intersection holding babies in their arms. She did the same for an older woman seated on the ground a few yards away.
A few minutes later Ms. Britton was out of the bus again to greet Paulina Nai and her 20-year-old son Joseph who were walking along the road. After a brief greeting she discreetly placed money in each of their hands.
“It’s not much,” she said. “I just want to show you how much I love you.”
Both of them thanked Juanita and gave her a hug her before she got back on the bus.
“I was broke, but not anymore,” said Joseph to one of Ms. Britton’s documentary dream team members. “At least I have pocket money now.”
I asked Joseph’s mother what was on her mind before Juanita appeared with the unexpected gift.
She paused for a few seconds then said, “I was saying to myself that I don’t know if I am going to have enough money to get my children something to eat.” Then she started crying. Her tears started a chain reaction. Robin, who was standing nearby, started to cry. So did I.
“There it is, Oprah's Leadership Academy!” Juanita is shouting and pointing out of the window of the bus as excited as a child.
The buildings of Oprah’s school sit on a sprawling 52 acres of well-manicured and are set far back from the road. Ms. Britton and her team are able to see several students on the property who appear to be playing. Groundskeepers are also busy at work. It is after 3 p.m. and campus security is everywhere—cruising the grounds and driving along the perimeter of the property.
Cromwell drives slowly so Ms. Britton and her team can see and shoot as much as they can but he also follows the direction of the security guards who allow them to look but signal him to keep moving.
A fleeting drive-by tour of the Oprah Leadership Academy for Girls was not the way Juanita had envisioned her first visit there would be. But the glimpse from the roadside was enough to make her even more determined to revisit under more official circumstances.
“I never wanted to interrupt the moments of the girls’ day in school,” she said. “I just wanted to feel the energy of the massive project. Maybe one day I will be able to do something like that.”
Visit: http://www.randomactsfoundation.com/story.html
Video: http://www.ibroadcasts.tv/randomacts.html
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