Biehls to Speak on Justice and Empowerment in South Africa

Chestertown, MD, March 21, 2001 — On Monday, April 9, 2001, Washington College will host Peter and Linda Biehl speaking on "Restorative Justice: 'Ubuntu' Revisited" at 7:30 p.m. in Washington College's Casey Academic Center Forum. The Biehls are the founders and directors of the Amy Biehl Foundation and Amy Biehl Foundation Trust, named in honor of their daughter who sacrificed her life at the age of 26 to serve the underrepresented, downtrodden and disenfranchised in the struggle for democracy in South Africa.

Originally from Southern California, Amy Biehl was a young American Fulbright Scholar in South Africa in 1993, when she was stoned and stabbed to death by an angry mob while driving friends home to a black township near Cape Town. Working in the politically charged atmosphere in the last days of Apartheid, she journeyed to South Africa to help disenfranchised voters and to empower the women of the country to ensure the protection of their interests under the country's majority-rule system. In 1999, Biehl's life and work was honored posthumously with the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity, given to those who have risked their lives to protect others of a different race or religion.

Linda and Peter Biehl have established the Amy Biehl Foundation and Amy Biehl Foundation Trust to continue their daughter's work and have been highly supportive of groups concerned with alleviating the lasting effects and injustices of Apartheid. In the United States, the Amy Biehl Foundation seeks to encourage a new generation of social activists and freedom fighters in middle schools, high schools and colleges. The foundation supports scholarships and internships for South African students to study in the United States and for American students to study in South Africa. In South Africa, the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust directs a holistic and comprehensive violence prevention initiative comprised of more than 15 individual, community-based programs targeted at adolescents and care-givers in South Africa's marginalized communities. Programs are offered in health, education, arts, recreation and economic empowerment.

The talk is sponsored by the Leadership Development Office, Anthropology Club, Black Student Alliance, Center for Black Culture, Cleopatra's Daughters, Goldstein Program, International House, Student Athlete Mentors and the William James Forum. The program is free and the public is invited to attend. For further information, call 410-778-7849.