I haven't had the time to write my full Cape Town entry yet, but it will be up probably on Friday or Saturday. Today, i spent the day with the Amy Biehl foundation. Amy Biehl was an American student killed in a township outside of Cape Town in 1993 during a anti-aparthied uprising. Her parents set up this NPO to continue on Amy's work of providing after school programs for poor children. As part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) (headed by Desmund Tutu), Amy's killers were granted amnesty and now actually work for the foundation. I thought this was a really interesting approach to the perpetrators of a murder, certainly something that would never take place in the USA. The TRC sought not to punish whites and other criminals for their apartheid crimes, but to condone reconciliation and amnesty to them in the interest of creating a united South Africa.
The Amy Biehl Foundation provides after school programs such as music classes, dance, drawing, singing and other fine arts programs that arent a part of regular school. We got the opportunity today to see the program in action at four different township schools. The kids were so excited to see us and to have their picture taken. They are all extremely talented in everthing they do. Unfortunately, the Foundation has had to downsize in recent years since they have lost some funding from the USA. I've never felt compelled to donate to anything in my life, but i would really love to be able to help out this organization sometime in the near future.
Here is a link to the foundation's website if anyone would like to check it out
http://www.amybiehl.org/
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