Aftermath of murder in Africa
is a lesson in forgiveness
January 30, 2008
I am always learning something when I travel, but little did I know when I arrived recently in Cape Town, South Africa, that I would learn a life-changing lesson from Linda Biehl, founder of the Amy Biehl Foundation. Many of my international travel groups perform a humanitarian service project, and so I was researching potential services for a group trip to South Africa later this year. I believe working side-by-side with locals creates bonds that far surpass a traditional tourist experience. In August 1993, 26-year-old Amy Biehl was an idealistic Stanford University graduate. She was completing a 10-month course of study as a Fulbright exchange scholar at the University of Western Cape Community Law Center. She had helped develop voter registration programs for South African blacks and women as that nation’s first all-race elections approached. Amy was scheduled to continue her academic career at Rutgers University in New Jersey, but Amy did not make it back to the United States alive.While Amy was driving three black colleagues to Cape Town’s Guguletu Township, a group of youths pelted her car with stones, forcing it to stop. Amy was pulled from the car, struck in the head with a brick as she tried to flee, then beaten and stabbed to death. During the attack, Amy’s black friends yelled that she was a “comrade” and friend of black South Africa. Her killers did not listen.
The four young men convicted of Amy’s murder were sentenced to 18 years in prison. They applied for amnesty with South
Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In 1998, Amy’s killers were pardoned by the TRC, a decision endorsed by Amy’s parents, Peter and Linda Biehl, and released from prison after serving four years. At the amnesty hearings, the Biehl family shook hands with their daughter’s killers. Peter Biehl testified at the Commission amnesty hearings saying, “The most important vehicle of reconciliation is open and honest dialogue. We are here to reconcile a human life which was taken without an opportunity for dialogue. When we are finished with this process we must move forward with linked arms.” Amy’s parents developed the Amy Biehl Foundation so that their daughter’s death might improve life in South Africa through prisoner rehabilitation programs, literacy training and job skills instruction. In discussing various ways my group might serve the Foundation, Linda Biehl and I visited a school in Guguletu township where the Foundation offers an after-school care program that provides a daily haven from crime and violence in the Townships. Students learn life skills, dance, art, arithmetic, music, sports, and receive a nutritious meal during the two-hour after-school session. I met shabbily dressed, barefoot children with broad smiles eager to sing and dance for me. I was inspireded by their spirit. I pondered what they could become if given the chance. I was introduced to two confident young men in administrative positions with the Foundation. Both were well spoken, capable, and committed to the program. I learned later they were two of the youths responsible for Amy’s death. When I asked Linda how she could not only forgive these men but actually help them, she explained that upon release from prison the men wanted to meet with the Biehl family to ask for forgiveness. They wanted to start a youth program so other young people wouldn’t fall victim to violence. The Biehl family embraced the young men as well as their plan.Amy’s spirit lives on in the townships of South Africa. While I didn’t know Amy, meeting her mother changed me. I will a
lways remember the lessons of reconciliation and forgiveness that I learned from Linda Biehl.
January 30, 2008
I am always learning something when I travel, but little did I know when I arrived recently in Cape Town, South Africa, that I would learn a life-changing lesson from Linda Biehl, founder of the Amy Biehl Foundation. Many of my international travel groups perform a humanitarian service project, and so I was researching potential services for a group trip to South Africa later this year. I believe working side-by-side with locals creates bonds that far surpass a traditional tourist experience. In August 1993, 26-year-old Amy Biehl was an idealistic Stanford University graduate. She was completing a 10-month course of study as a Fulbright exchange scholar at the University of Western Cape Community Law Center. She had helped develop voter registration programs for South African blacks and women as that nation’s first all-race elections approached. Amy was scheduled to continue her academic career at Rutgers University in New Jersey, but Amy did not make it back to the United States alive.While Amy was driving three black colleagues to Cape Town’s Guguletu Township, a group of youths pelted her car with stones, forcing it to stop. Amy was pulled from the car, struck in the head with a brick as she tried to flee, then beaten and stabbed to death. During the attack, Amy’s black friends yelled that she was a “comrade” and friend of black South Africa. Her killers did not listen.
The four young men convicted of Amy’s murder were sentenced to 18 years in prison. They applied for amnesty with South
Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In 1998, Amy’s killers were pardoned by the TRC, a decision endorsed by Amy’s parents, Peter and Linda Biehl, and released from prison after serving four years. At the amnesty hearings, the Biehl family shook hands with their daughter’s killers. Peter Biehl testified at the Commission amnesty hearings saying, “The most important vehicle of reconciliation is open and honest dialogue. We are here to reconcile a human life which was taken without an opportunity for dialogue. When we are finished with this process we must move forward with linked arms.” Amy’s parents developed the Amy Biehl Foundation so that their daughter’s death might improve life in South Africa through prisoner rehabilitation programs, literacy training and job skills instruction. In discussing various ways my group might serve the Foundation, Linda Biehl and I visited a school in Guguletu township where the Foundation offers an after-school care program that provides a daily haven from crime and violence in the Townships. Students learn life skills, dance, art, arithmetic, music, sports, and receive a nutritious meal during the two-hour after-school session. I met shabbily dressed, barefoot children with broad smiles eager to sing and dance for me. I was inspireded by their spirit. I pondered what they could become if given the chance. I was introduced to two confident young men in administrative positions with the Foundation. Both were well spoken, capable, and committed to the program. I learned later they were two of the youths responsible for Amy’s death. When I asked Linda how she could not only forgive these men but actually help them, she explained that upon release from prison the men wanted to meet with the Biehl family to ask for forgiveness. They wanted to start a youth program so other young people wouldn’t fall victim to violence. The Biehl family embraced the young men as well as their plan.Amy’s spirit lives on in the townships of South Africa. While I didn’t know Amy, meeting her mother changed me. I will a
lways remember the lessons of reconciliation and forgiveness that I learned from Linda Biehl. 
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