Amy Biehl Foundation Trust

The Amy Biehl Foundation Trust was the organization established in Cape Town, South Africa by Linda and Peter Biehl commemorate their daughter Amy Biehl, a white American anti-apartheid activist who was killed by a black mob during racial violence in South Africa in 1993.

Amy Biehl Foundation Trust monument in Gugulethu

Today two organizations are the successors to the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust.

The Amy Biehl Foundation USA is headed by Linda Biehl and based in the United States.

The Amy Foundation is based in Cape Town.

The reasons for the split into two organizations include Linda and Peter Biehl's desire for the South African organization to stand on its own as a sustainable organization.[1] In the book, We Are Not Such Things, it is also reported that by 2013, Linda Biehl had been at odds with the South African foundation for several years, after mismanagement by its South African directors.[2]

The original foundation strived to fulfil three rights in the South African Constitution: the right to education, the right to equal employment, and the right to health. The foundation's mission statement is "to weave a barrier against violence" and "to prevent youth violence through a holistic approach to community development in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in and around Cape Town."[3] It aimed to do so by empowering the youths of the townships around Cape Town, mainly through after-school programs with activities like music, dance, drama, sports, crafts and HIV/AIDS peer education. These programs were run at several township-schools every afternoon, and in addition the foundation ran weekly activities outside the townships for some of the children, and they also have Saturday and Holiday programs. The Foundation initially received funding from USAID as well as private donations.

Linda Biehl, Amy's mother and a founder of the trust, speaks on the promise of restorative justice, and continues the work of the foundation. She was awarded the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo (bronze class) in 2008 by South African President Thabo Mbeki.[4]

Two of the four men convicted for Biehl's murder, Easy Nofemela and Ntobeko Peni, have since reconciled with her parents,[5] and are now working for the Foundation in South Africa.[6]

Footnotes
  1. "Amy Biehl Foundation USA". Facebook. Facebook. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  2. Van Der Leun, Justine (2016). We Are Not Such Things. Spiegel And Grau. p. 435-436. ISBN 9780812994506.
  3. "Amy Foundation | Non Profit Organization - Home Page". Amy Foundation. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
  4. Bathandwa Mbola. "South Africa honours Linda Biehl", SouthAfrica.info, 23 April 2008.
  5. "Amy's Story", CBS News, 1999, 2000.
  6. "Linda Biehl & Easy Nofemela (South Africa) - Forgiveness Project". Forgiveness Project. Retrieved 2017-09-07.
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