The Amy Biehl Foundation Trust was the organization established in Cape Town, South Africa by Linda and Peter Biehl commemorate their daughter

Amy Biehl Amy Elizabeth Biehl (April 26, 1967 – August 25, 1993) was a Fulbright Scholar and American graduate of Stanford University and an anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa who was murdered by Cape Town residents while a black mob shouted an ...

, a white American anti-

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

activist who was killed by a black mob during racial violence in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

in 1993. 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 Sybrand Park, Cape Town, South Africa and is headed up by Kevin Chaplin. www.amyfoundation.co.za 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. 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 right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the U ...

. 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." It aimed to do so by empowering the youths of the

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

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 The Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo is a South African honour. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and is granted by the President of South Africa to foreign citizens who have promoted South African interests and aspirations through c ...

(bronze class) in 2008 by South African President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

. Two of the four men convicted for Biehl's murder, Easy Nofemela and Ntobeko Peni, have since reconciled with her parents, and Ntobeko Peni still works for the Foundation in South Africa. Easy Nofemela left the Amy Foundation in 2018.

Footnotes

External links

Amy Biehl Foundation USA

Amy Foundation
{{Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa), state=expanded Non-profit organisations based in South Africa Community building