Oprah Shuns Girl Who First Reported Abuse

Aviwe Mncwabe is the girl who first told her parents about the abuse that was occurring at OWLS. Since her reveal of the abuse at the hands of the matron, Oprah has refused to meet with Aviwe or any member of her family. The family's sole contact with Oprah was a two minute phone conversation Oprah had with Aviwe's mom.

While all the other girls at the school were praised for coming forward AFTER Aviwe came forward, Aviwe was shut out and not included and her family was barred from an October 28th meeting that Oprah had with all the other parents. While Oprah was passing out cell phones and her private number out like candy, Aviwe and her family didn't receive one.

Instead of protecting Aviwe and making sure that she is ok, Oprah instead has made it impossible for Aviwe to return to school, by the perception that everything would have been fine at the school if Aviwe and her family had not gone public with the abuse allegations. Aviwe and her family fear retribution not only from the staff members which were fired, but also the current staff members.

Although Oprah had promised to fly back to South Africa and meet with Aviwe and her family, that meeting never happened. I guess Oprah would have just preferred to deal with all this privately and sweep it under the rug. Just quietly fire the abusive staff members and let them get on with their lives at new schools with new students. Instead, she shuns the only girl who had the courage to actually speak out at the risk of her own well being. Instead of being thankful, Oprah is just concerned about being sued by the girl's family.

So this week while Oprah does her annual give the audience crazy free stuff for Christmas that costs a fortune, Aviwe's father has said that he will sell apples and oranges on the street to help pay for his daughter's education.