No one has ever accused Oprah Winfrey of hiding her talents — or her generosity — under a bushel basket. Her most recent charitable venture, chronicled in Newsweek and People, on "Access Hollywood" and other places, is the opening of a private and very exclusive school for girls in South Africa.

Winfrey told the BBC, "I'm looking for the opportunity to change the paradigm, to change the way not only these girls think...but to also change the way a culture feels about what women can do." The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls opened with $40 million and a plan to create a protected space where 152 young girls from deprived backgrounds will be groomed to be comfortable in power positions.

"Mam Oprah," as she is called there, took a personal role in planning the academy, according to Newsweek, choosing the china and silverware, the pleated uniform skirts, the 200-thread-count sheets and the softness of the beds. To mark the opening of the 28-building campus south of Johannesburg, Winfrey invited celebrity pals such as Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier, Mary J. Blige, Chris Tucker and Nelson Mandela.

Some grumbling was anticipated at the lavishness of her private effort in the face of such overwhelming need throughout the townships of South Africa and indeed across the continent. There was talk about how charity begins at home — as in, why go to Africa when public school students in the U.S. could use a boost?

Winfrey's response was stunning. "I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod or some sneakers. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."

How strange to hear one of the world's richest women — whose TV show is built on advertising, ah, consumer products — complain about materialism among America's city kids.

And to hear her suggest that she has given up on them.

If she thinks they're so materialistic, maybe she could invite them the next time she does one of those Oprah shows where all the people in the audience truck off armloads of goodies she has given them. ("You're all getting a new car!")

Her comments cast a pall on an otherwise noble effort. The needs of children in Africa are yawning. It's a fine idea to educate girls there, teach them leadership skills.

But Oprah, have you really given up on the kids back home? How strange to hear one of the world's richest women complain about materialism among America's city kids.