ChristmasKindness in South Africa (2003)
Three years ago, I put a challenge to myself: How could I use the abundance I've been blessed with to offer something meaningful to someone else? That's when I decided to reach 50,000 children in South Africa. Once there, my staff and I headed for several orphanages and created a mini carnival at every stop. The kids, most of them AIDS orphans, were told they were coming to a party—and many had borrowed shoes just to get there.
As the kids entered, I could see their eyes light up and their sorrows fall away while they took in the wonder—jesters, fairies in lavender tulle, and silver bubbles floating everywhere. You could touch the joy they felt that someone had thought of them. In that moment in Johannesburg, I thanked God that I was born to see that kind of happiness.
From the
October 2005 issue of
O, The Oprah Magazine
