9rivermedia

  When Oprah Winfrey founded the Leadership Academy for Girls in 2007, she became a symbol in Johannesburg, South Africa, and for many schools across Africa. Sadly, the Oprah Winfrey Kindergarten and Primary School in Calaba Town, Sierra Leone (also founded in 2007) has never had quite enough to keep it running like the one that the famous American billionaire is personally invested in. Still, the community keeps striving to break the cycle of poverty. Calaba Town lies on the outskirts of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Built after the Civil War (1991–2002), the reconstruction town is home to internally-displaced people who relocated.   In 2009, the Madieu Williams Foundation funded a primary school named after American footballer's mother, Abigail D. Butscher, in Calaba Town.  Sierra Leonean-born Williams played in America's National Football League (NFL). He was drafted in 2004 and went on to play for NFL teams in Minnesota, San Francisco, and the football team