Oprah's School!

Today we had the privilege of visiting Oprah's Leadership Academy for Girls here in South Africa! We stepped off the airplane in South Africa after 50 hours of traveling (from Seattle to LA to NY to South Africa) and stepped onto a bus headed to Oprah's school.

The school is beautiful! It's an inspiring place to learn and grow. The students there come from families who have a gross income of less than $1,000 a month and have been through tough circumstances. We first ate lunch with the varsity level high school netball team. It was such a blessing to sit down and get to know the girls over lunch and connect over netball!

After lunch, we got a tour of the school. B-E-A-U-tiful! What a great place to learn. Their sports program is beginning to grow and girls play field hockey, netball, and tennis. Recently, the entire school learned how to swim! It was amazing to see how sport is changing lives at the school.

Following the tour, we met with the middle school netball team and had a skill clinic. Such a warm, loving bunch of girls! Our game with the high school varsity netball team was after that. These girls played sharp! They're skilled and know the game in ways that only someone who grows up with the game does. It was amazing to share the court with them! We wrapped our day on the court and neither our team or theirs were ready to leave. Standing on the court sharing stories was one of my favorite parts of the day. When it was time to go, I struggled to walk away. The girls I met have a place in my heart and I can only hope that this is only the start of a long relationship with our team and the school.

It was less than eight hours on campus from the moment we arrived to the minute we got back off the bus but if our whole 50 hour travel was just for those incredible minutes with the girls and then we'd go back home, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Endless thanks to Oprah's Leadership School for welcoming us on campus! It was the best experience, one I'll never forget.

We're heading to Cape Town tomorrow (we're in Johannesburg now) where the hard work towards the gold here will really begin!