Hello (again) Amy Biehl Foundation!

On October 8th I led a semester at sea service visit to the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust in Cape Town. I was so excited! This is the first repeat port and trip that I've taken on SAS -- I first fell in love with this organization when I visited Cape Town as a student on the Fall 2000 voyage. I've never forgotten Amy Biehl's story: her passion for the anti-apartheid movement, her horrible, senseless death, her family's remarkable response, and even the response of the South African people. It still has the power to giveme goosebumps. I've always also felt a special connection as a Stanford student, since Amy was also.

This time, it was really special to get the opportunity to eat breakfast with some of the staff members and give them a tour of the ship. I love instant connections with friendly people; by the end our time together, we were all fast friends. I also loved meeting their new director, Kevin Chaplan, and his energy and enthusiasm for the work of racial reconciliation and development in the townships moved me. I could feel the aura of disbelief when he spoke to the group, him being a white man with a banking background who suddenly quit his 25 year career and started a foundation to promote racial harmony in the post-apartheid era. It took only a few minutes for his genuineness to break down that disbelief and turn it into the bemused chagrin you can only feel when you're wrong and happy about it.

Even more awe-inspiring, however, is the story of Amy's killers. Amy was dragged from her car, stoned, and stabbed to death during an anti-apartheid rally while dropping friends home. She had been unaware of the rally, and the friends lived in the township. 4 young black men were convicted of the crime and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment each. However, after apartheid ended they sought asylum with the truth and reconciliation commission, which was granted with the full blessing of the Biehl family (in fact, they were there and spoke in favor of the proceedings). The part that is even over the top of that is that 2 of the young men were then taken in by the Biehl family and now work for the foundation! One is the program director and the other one is the sports director for the kids afterschool programs. They keep in touch regularly with Linda Biehl, Amy's mom, and even call her "Makulu" (grandmother). The transformative power of forgiveness, redemption, and absolution are all quasi-religious talking points for so many people, it is absolutely paralyzing to see them applied in a secular world. It's a revelation to me to see the humbling, penetrating power it has as applied to the politics of South Africa  -- and this is secular! I am moved to think of what it must have been like while Jesus's message was first sweeping the world, changing the course of human history as the physical embodiment of God's forgiveness to every person.

After a morning in their offices learning about the organization and Amy's story, we had an amazing traditional !Xhosa lunch at Mzoni's Place in the Gugulunthe township and went around to different schools there visiting the Amy Biehl Foundation's after school programs. The foundation provides music, dance, drama, and visual arts programs to empower kids, keep them out of trouble, and finish school (there is a high attrition rate). The students performed for us, and they were amazing! I itched to dance and sing along -- I could barely keep my butt in the seat! I had to settle for taking video. My plan: to study the moves and take So You Think You Can Dance by storm! Check for me!