Hey Springsters!

My name is Chikondi and I’m from Zambia. Last month at school our drama teacher told us an amazing story about a woman named Oprah Winfrey. She was raised by her single mother in rural Mississippi in the United States. She had a difficult childhood growing up in poverty and racism. But she didn’t let this stop her from achieving her dreams. She worked her way up in TV and Film and became the first black woman to receive the most prestigious award in Hollywood. How inspiring!

After hearing this story I searched Youtube for the the speech Oprah Winfrey gave when she won the award. It was super powerful. My favourite thing she said was:

"I've interviewed people who've survived some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon!”

Girls, Oprah Winfrey is so right! A new day is really on the horizon for us. Right now us girls all over the world are stronger than ever, we have more access to information and we are more connected than ever before. Now is the time to believe in ourselves and in our dreams because the FUTURE BELONGS TO US! Never believe that you are too young or not good enough to make your dreams come true.

Oprah Winfrey’s speech really woke me up and got me thinking about how I too had the power to make my dreams come true. I spoke to the other girls in my class and together we came up with an idea to run an after school drama club for girls in our community. That way girls who didn’t go to school could join in too. Last week we put on our first play about Queen Amina of Africa.

I’m grateful to Oprah Winfrey for the inspiration but I’m also very proud of myself for taking action to help girls in my community. If I can do it, so can you, all you have to do is:

1. Believe in yourself.

2. Take action and make things happen.

3. Never give up even when it gets difficult.