Despite being "shaken to the core," Oprah Winfrey gave an emotional press conference this morning via satellite to South Africa vowing to continue her academy for girls there which has been rocked by allegations of abuse at the hands of a dormitory matron.
"When I first heard about it I spent about a half-hour going around my house crying," Oprah said during the session with reporters which was aired on several morning shows.
Oprah was told by girls at the school that they were told to "put on happy faces" when Oprah made her visits to the school as school officials tried to hide the facts of the case. She said she is "prepared to do whatever is necessary" and promised a shake-up of the school's administration.
Oprah said after she learned of the allegations, "I spoke to all the girls personally and encouraged whoever had been harmed to come forward. I told them that although they had been living in an atmosphere that oppressed their voices, this was to take their voices back ... As a result of their conversation, five other brave girls came forward ... The following weekend ... I met with the parents and their daughters, I apologized for the circumstance and promised to institute changes."
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opened outside Johannesburg on Jan. 2 with former President Nelson Mandela among those attending. It aims to give 152 girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid.
"What I know is that no one — not the accused nor any persons — can destroy the dream that I have held and the dream that each girl continues to hold for herself at the school," she said.
When Oprah called this one of the most devastating experiences of her life it seems quite understandable since she was the victim of sexual abuse as a child beginning when she was 9. She has since used her fame and power to campaign for laws in the United States to protect children from abusers.
"As often is the case, child abuse, sexual abuse happens right within the family, right within the confines of people you know," she said Monday.