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Oprah Winfrey offically opened her $40 million girls’ school in South Africa opened on Tuesday, as 152 handpicked students walked in the door.

The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in Henly-on-Klip fulfills a promise she made six years ago to former President Nelson Mandela to give students a better future.

“I wanted to give this opportunity to girls who had a light so bright that not even poverty could dim that light,” Winfrey said at a press conference.

Oprah at the Royal Wedding
(Getty Images)

All of a sudden, Shakira has a long way to go to be the most charitable celebrity.

Mandela was among the guests at the opening, as were Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey, actors Sidney Poitier and Chris Tucker and director Spike Lee, according to the AP.

By providing education to the girls in the lavish setting, Winfrey said she hoped she could help “change the face of a nation” that had once been divided by apartheid.

“Girls who are educated are less likely to get HIV/AIDS, and in this country in which it has such a pandemic, we have to begin to change the pandemic,” she said.

In other important developments, Kristen Cavallari won’t curse anymore.