30 Minutes to Start Your Day Right! – MORNING MOTIVATION | MotivationArk

I think that true philanthropy comes from the heart of yourself and growing up as a poor girl I mean really poor not just not having a wonderful economic circumstances or material things but literally poor like no running water kind of poor uh and having education being the road to freedom for me my grandmother already finished third grade but taught me to read the Bible so I grew up knowing how to read and put myself in uh in the position of by the time I got to kindergarten I knew all the biblical meanings from the Christian Bible so I had a central moment growing up with my mother in Milwaukee after leaving Mississippi my mother had said there would be no Christmas that year and therefore there would be no Santa Claus and I remember being embarrassed about having to go to school because we all know that the Christmas the holidays is about going to school and saying and what you got and I got this and so I was embarrassed about what I would tell what would my story be I wasn't so worried about not getting anything I was worried about what the story was going to be but what I did or did not get about midnight that night Christmas Eve some nuns showed up at our door three nuns carrying a basket of food and toys for my half-sister and brother and myself and I remember feeling release felt not Joy but relief and a sense of wonder that somebody who didn't know me would be able to figure out where we lived and come to our house with a turkey and food for Christmas and managed to bring a Tammy doll for me although I'd been wishing for Barbie um I never forgot that moment and years later when I was contemplating how I wanted to use my own resources I thought about those nuns so my first Adventure was to go to South Africa and to be able to do for other children to create that experience that I'd felt for myself that sense of wonder that somebody cared about me who didn't even know my name because I know that it for me it was more than the toys it was more than the food it was that somebody reached out and literally the energy of them tucked the heart of of me so I wanted to do that I also knew what a big role uh education had played in my life and I always knew from beginning of My Success that I would have to find a way to give back that's just a part of the way my grandmother raised me but to those who much is given much is expected she never lived to see how much was given but if I was you know taught to give back so I started out and made a lot of mistakes because I think all of us go through the process of figuring out the difference between charity and true philanthropy I made a lot of mistakes because I wanted to give the heart of me knew that I wanted to have other people experience some of what I had experienced but I wasn't quite sure of how to do it so I made a lot of mistakes based on emotional giving people refer to me as a brand now out the the opal brand I never knew what a brand was when I start when I when I first started out I didn't even know what that was I became a brand by making every decision flow from the truth of myself every choice I made uh for every show that was going to be on the air I made based upon does this feel right does this feel right does this feel right and I do the same thing in terms of my philanthropic efforts it's where do I feel that I can have the most impact or make the or do the most good I had the great benefit when we had done Christmas kindness which was truly an emotional decision I want to go to South Africa I want to go to South Africa and I want to do for all of these kids what someone had done for me I ended up being invited by Nelson Mandela to stay at his home for 10 days and I was at first very intimidated because I said to my partner Stedman oh my God oh my God what do we get to talk about I don't know what I'm going to talk about for 10 days and 10 nights at Nelson Mandela's house and seven said why don't you try listening and uh oh that's that's a marvelous idea uh so when we were talking one day in a conversation and we got to the point where we're comfortable enough to sit in silence that's how you know you you made it you can be in a room and don't have to say anything uh we were just in the row reading the newspaper and started a conversation about what was in the paper poverty and how to change it and I said the only way to change poverty is through education and one day I would like to build a school uh in South Africa and he said you want to build a school got up call the Ministry of Education and by that afternoon I was in a meeting talking about building a school so the school for me was the way in because I knew that education taking a child out of their Village creating an environment for them where they have aspiration and can fill the spirit of themselves and what I know is true is that true spirituality the real Spirit of every human being is that part of our ourselves which is drawn to Hope which is drawn to hope and every one of us has that thing inside of us that spirit that is drawn to Hope and that's what I wanted to do was to create an environment where uh girls and I chose girls because I have I am one have been one understand that don't know none about boys and uh I wanted them to feel the the the the strength and power of hopefulness that you can do and be and fulfill the possibility of your your creation so that's why I I do what I do when uh after setting up this school there there was a one of the dorm parents uh was involved in sexual abuse she was later acquitted but I still believe the girls first of all never in all of my wildest uh uh imaginations in preparing for the school we thought we'd thought of everything including in knowing how uh devastating the crime situation can be in South Africa electrifying all the fences around the borders and making sure that men were off the campus by a certain time and I never occurred to me or anyone I think that you would have abuse or charges of abuse from a female on campus and so when that happened there were lots of people who said oh my goodness okay does this you know destroy the dream no because I held on to what is the greater vision of that what it taught me that the real key is not making emotional decisions as I did with I want to build a school I want to help girls like myself but starting with uh the infrastructure and the leadership that can sustain it long term I think that's where the biggest mistakes have been made particularly in Africa is people have really hopeful ideas and they have really you know altruistic Visions but you if you don't create the system and put in the infrastructure and have the leadership and in many cases you have to as you know Melinda you have to train the People First in order to even begin to create the infrastructure so we all go in with our big ideas and our great ideas but if the if if the platform hasn't been laid for long-term sustainability and particularly I would say biggest mistake is lead