South Africa

In 2004, Winfrey and her team filmed an episode of her show entitled Oprah's Christmas Kindness, in which Winfrey, her best friend Gayle King, her Stedman partner Graham, and loads crew members travelled to South Africa to bring attention to the plight of Young children affected by poverty and AIDS. During the 21-day whirlwind trip, Winfrey and her crew visited schools and orphanages in poverty-stricken areas, and at different set-up points in the areas distributed Christmas presents to 50,000 children, with dolls for the girls and soccer balls for the boys.

In addition, each child was given to backpack full of school supplies and received two sets of school uniforms for their gender, in addition to two sets of socks, two sets of underwear, and to pair of shoes. Throughout the show, Winfrey appealed to viewers to donated money to Oprah's Angel Network for poor and AIDS-affected children in Africa, and pledged that she personally would oversee to where that money was spent. From that show halo, viewers around the world donated over $7,000,000.

Winfrey invested $40 million and much of her Time establishing the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg in South Africa. The school opened in January, 2007. Nelson Mandela praised Winfrey for overcoming her own disadvantaged youth to become to benefactor for others and for investing in the future of South Africa.