Charlize Theron Returns Home

Oscar®-winning actress Charlize Theron is on a mission to live life to the fullest. In an interview with Vogue magazine, the reporter described her as an "unrepented pleasure-seeker". "I think my motto is always, 'We don't know what happens after this,'" she says. "This is the shot we get. So I don't want to lie in my deathbed someday and say, 'I should have done that.'"

The actress and producer is now finding happiness through her passion for helping others. She has teamed up with Oprah's Angel Network to make a difference for people in her home country of South Africa.

For thousands of teenagers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, HIV education and treatment is unavailable or too expensive. The community is severely affected by HIV, with adolescents having a one in two chance of being infected with HIV during their lifetime if nothing changes.

With the help of Charlize and Oprah's Angel Network, a program called Mpilonhle—meaning, "a good life"—has been created to bring free HIV education and treatment directly to schools. The program provides a mobile health unit that travels between four remote high schools. Each month, the mobile clinic brings lifesaving tests and treatments to thousands of students.

"Medical staff told me many students here have lost one or both parents to AIDS," Charlize says. "The mobile clinic is one of the few places offering help, guidance and a safe place to talk."

Cameras follow Charlize as she returns to South Africa to meet with Dr. Michael Bennish and see firsthand how the mobile health units have been helping the students. Sex, teen pregnancy and HIV are taboo topics in South Africa, but counselors create an atmosphere in the units that allows open discussion. They also provide free condoms and HIV testing as key parts of their program.

"I don't think people understand that it's really taboo," Charlize says. "You don't talk about sex, you don't talk about rape, you don't talk about HIV." During their classes, the students are reminded that condoms cannot be saved once they are used, knowledge they will pass on to their community.

"Little boys thought you could wash a condom and reuse it," Charlize says.

Along with necessary medical care, the program brings a mobile computer lab to the schools, which offers many teenagers an opportunity to learn in a way they never could before.

Charlize also hands out gift bags filled with goodies like books, pens and food to assist the students with their studies.

"It's hard because a part of me feels incredibly blessed in my life," she says. "Then you come here, and you see how people are struggling. And then you see this beautiful thing, which is the spirit of these people and how resilient they are. That's the miracle."

Before she leaves, Charlize sits down for a candid conversation with the students to talk about her experience growing up on a farm in South Africa. She also shares the story of her own father's death. "He was a good man, but he wasn't the best father," she says. "Through his mistakes, I realize what I did not want to be."

"I don't want you to think because of where you come from and because you're from a rural community and a small town that you can't have what other kids have," she says. "I don't want you to ever think that. I am telling you that because that's what happened to me."

One student tells Charlize her story has inspired her. "Most of us are afraid to dream just because we are afraid our dreams won't come true," she says. "Listening to you speaking, you have inspired me so much. You have awakened my dream of becoming a business woman. And I know that someday I'm going to achieve this because you grew up on a farm—and now you go and pursued your career, and that is wonderful."

To help raise funds for the children of Africa, Charlize auctioned of one of her gowns on eBay. The winning bid was $1,825, and proceeds went to the Entertainment Industry Foundation benefiting the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project.

The one-of-a-kind, ivory couture dress was designed by Narciso Rodriguez exclusively for Charlize. "This is a very special dress," she says. "This is the first time I ever went to the Cannes Film Festival."

Episode 2 of Oprah's Big Give gets fast and furious.

Viewers get the chance to give big!