i do believe some npgmc'ers have infiltrated this thread

Man... under the Sundance Festival section..I viewed the pictures from the trip to the orphanage... beautiful children with no parents at all.
Thanks to anyone who helps.
Dar el-Hassan Orphanage

herb4 said:

ROFL!!!!!

Rhondab said:

Yeah, I couldn't understand his point either. I think he needs to become more AWARE that women are nurterers by nature and that enabling children to become empowered with a positive life structure has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with "practicing what you preach"

Oprah is childless too and I love her for her for abilities to be such a loving, nurturing spirit for the children of Africa and elsewhere . . . .

4everYoung said:

...and yet still manages to hang onto her untold wealth at the same time "I utterly sincerely care about the poverty stricken children of Africa... as long as I still get to live in my mansion and acres of land..."

metalorange said:

Yes, this is the typical sentiment from people who feel as a condition of a person's wealth, they should first end world hunger and poverty . . . . Oprah is well aware of difference she can make to impoverished lands and has already set forth her own efforts by way of the development of children's schools and hospitals . . . .

metalorange said:

I know you were exaggerating a bit to make your point, but just FYI...Oprah's primary residence is in a high rise in downtown Chicago (Watertower Place--the Ritz Carlton is in the same building). It's a nice place, but not a mansion and definitely not acres of land.

Source: I used to work at the museum across the street.

(I don't doubt that she owns other residences, but that is her primary one.)

Also, I'm not particularly a fan of Oprah, but what should she do then...sell her land, donate her entire fortune, become an aesthete, and go live in the Himalayas like Shiva?

jone70 said:

Just an exaggerated example of priorities. Only the wealthy have the time to bang on about poverty. The rest of us are either just trying to exist or get wealthy ourselves! It's a bit of a dichotomy to have obscene amounts of money sitting in the bank yet be seen to be caring to the poverty stricken. Oprah would never take her sympathy for the poor of Africa to the extent that she would sell her land, donate her entire fortune, become an aesthete, and go live in the Himalayas like Shiva, because it's more important for her to have her fortune than help the poor. Which is fine, the cold hard fact is that the vast majority of the people have sympathy for those less fortunate - as long as it doesn't actually effect their lives too much. I could give £10 quid to charity and it could be, percentage-wise, relatively more of my 'fortune' than Oprah gives - but you don't see me banging on about how caring I am!
[Edited 7/22/06 1:58am]

metalorange said:

I feel that Oprah's "banging on about how caring she is" is more or less her realization that she is a powerful source of influence and that when she "bangs on about how caring she is" is her efforts to continue to raise awareness to these issues because in the end . . . . it is the result of community efforts that produces change . . . .these millionaires and billionaires know damn well they can clean up homelessness, poverty, disease, famine, etc. etc. in a snap, and when they do do their part, I truly don't think it is their intention to boast about their efforts, rather just to maintain awareness . . . . .

4everYoung said:

Ermm, then why don't they?

Celebrities do tend to jump on board causes that gain them a lot of exposure and good will, they do pick and choose, for instance there are many celebrities that back Aids charities and yet I can't recall one that has backed a malaria one. Malaria kills more people each year than Aids AND we actually know how to control it and treat it unlike Aids, yet still people die. But it's not a trendy charity.

It's kind of funny that people regard Oprah as a 'loving, nurturing spirit for the children of Africa' but can anybody off the top of their heads remember anything she's actually done directly? Then tell me that being regarded as a 'giver to charity' and 'raiser of awareness' doesn't help to spin a positive image.

metalorange said:

I disagree with most of everything you've said. I think some it comes from not having yourself. Its always easier to sit back and tell someone else what they should and shouldn't do with their EARNED wealth. I think its also interesting that on the one hand you want to know what Oprah's done directly and yet criticize celebrities for bragging. Maybe there is a situation where Oprah is making corporate America give back, so you have these very public giveaways where corporate America is involved but then there's her own private charity work. My dad always said never to count another man's money. Worry about your own.

And as far as Malaria, Sharon Stone helped to raise money for nets and other items to reduce the cases of Malaria.


I also disagree that these millionaires and billionaires can clean up poverty, disease in a snap. How? They still have to work within government structures, you can't just give ppl money, look at most lottery winners.

I think Oprah, Bono, Angelina, Brad, etc are doing what they are supposed to do with their celebrity. America lovesssss their celebrities and will listen to every damn word. I'd rather listen to Oprah talk about building Angel houses in NOLA, or Bono ending poverty than what Paris thinks about Nicole Ritchie.

It's just unfair to question the motives of those who HAVE because if they said that they're not going to give a damn thing to anyone, i'm sure they'd be criticized for that. Damned if you do, etc, etc.

metalorange said:

see...this also makes no sense either. Oprah and Bill Gates should give all of their money away and THEN go be poor themselves? See...Oprah has been POOR, raped, abused, neglected, etc. She EARNED her wealth and is doing the appropriate things with her wealth. sooooo she should be poor again? ya'll trippin' now for real.

and I wonder why some of us are trying to get wealthy ourselves

Well now we can stop wondering where Mani has been... She has been out getting her hustle on. I 4 1 AIN'T MAD AT HER!! U DO U GIRL!!

sosgemini said:

-----
No we are going to continue with the "ass-kisser/hater comments. After all what would the Wendy & Lisa fans do on this board if they could not ass kiss.

metalorange said:

=====
WTF are you that mad at Oprah for having money. At least she worked and earned her money and donates a lot of it to charity. You people are too much.

How many black female billions are around?

laurarichardson said:

wow...forget to take your meds?

cause your responce has absolutely nothing to do with with my comment..*I* was refering to the namecalling...not folks opinion. sorry your attempt to bait me didnt work...maybe you can run over a cat, take some candy from a kid or steal government cheese from an old lady to make you feel better.

either that or take your meds.

Rhondab said:

True True

laurarichardson said:

was thinking the exact same thing. like Rhonda said Oprah/celebrities are DAMNED if they Do and DAMNED if they DONT!

Rhondab said:

blah blah blah..... FAM!!! ..


I don't give a shiznit if she has children or not. I stated that in MY opinion, one should practice what they preach. I have a right to my thoughts and opinions as Mrs Nelson has at what organizations to support. I just don't have any respect for woman who sell themself (or their product) using other people and especially children. Manuella used Prince and now she's using his fans. Prince fans ARE her target, whether she is still with him or not. Outside of the Prince world, Mani don't exist. And, frankly, nobody here (excluding sheep, and the fanatics) .. I keep out the word "Fan" because the "average" fan don't even know who she is, would even care about what she is doing if it were not for her being "Mani".

You people will buy just about anything Prince and Mani sell you, from their word to products. I wonder why she don't HELP or donate to childrens hospitals or cancer treatment for children? Maybe it's because treatment requires blood transfusion and according to the JW religion, she can't support such cause. Thats if she is even still a JW.

Mani, if she is doing this from her heart and not her business mind, I give her props. More power to her. But, I still have my opinion.
That woman lost her creditability when she was eyeing a married man who was the husband of a still in mourning woman, who lost her child.
She has proved to be a ME, MYSELF and I person.

I'm not sayin that Prince is perfect. We all know he is probably the biggest hypocrite who could ever exist .. How many of you bought his symbol pendant?

He changed The Cross to The Christ because he don't believe in the cross. He don't like the word FAN because it's meaning is "fanatic", yet he sells you all HIS symbol to wear around your kneck as some would wear a cross yet he don't like the word "FAN"? .. Give me a break!!

kneck-Neck

Symbolsm said:

Did you mean for your post to come out like this?!?!?

4everYoung said:

If it were as simple as throwing some money around, then the countless billions of dollars of charity, public assistance, and foreign aid would have already solved the problems.

i think that its a nice move on mani's part..if products can be shipped from america i'd purchase one..

LeGrindLady said:

While I agree with you about the looks "game" I have to say that Mani is doing her thing and it's helping other people. Mayte doesn't seem to play that 'game."

metalorange said:

She established an all girls school in South Africa. I bet she's pretty involved in the cirriculum and mission of the school (even if she does it from Chicago). Oprah doesn't strike me as the type of person that just donates money for something and doesn't follow up to see that it's being used to her satisfaction.

I knew about the school "off the top of my head" but of course, a quick google search was able to find the specifics: http://www.oprah.com/pres...ship.jhtml

Well it is hard to know what the deal is with Prince and Mani, but I think that it is great that she is venturing out and doing something charitable. I hope all goes well regardless of what goes on between them.

PurpleCharm said:

Sweet!!!

Just an interesting tidbit: "Gamillah" means "remuneration" in Hebrew, but is also part of the concept and phrase "Gamillat Hesed" which literally means: "remunerating lovingkindness" and is used to refer to philanthropy, of the social support and empowerment kind, not of the rich throwing pennies out the carriage to the poor kind.

Now, I don't know if that's where she took the name from (and it may mean something similar in "Arabic"), but I thought it might interest some.

I don't give a hoot cahoot what her marital status is*, her work to make a better world deserves praise. i've always been impressed that Love4oneanother (to the extent that it existed) was about empowerment rather than handing out scraps (food drives are better than giving out money too, in this case).

(*BTW, it's also interesting that the sites underplay the P connection, altho the bio on Gamillah mentions "married to Prince Rogers Nelson")

wasitgood4u said:

i agree think what she is doing is wonderful and hell if i was married to him i would want the world to know..he is absolutely stunning..
[Edited 7/23/06 5:59am]