AmyBiehl:

 Amy was born in 1967 as a Roman Catholic in Newport Beach, California. While attending Stanford University, she went on an exchange program to South Africa.

 

The country was having their first democratic election set for April 1994. She was assisting in the development of voter registration programs for Black South Americans. She was supposed to go home just a week later, but died on August 25, 1993. On that day, she was driving a few black people to their homes when 4 young men started throwing stones at her car and surrounded her car shouting "One settler, one bullet!". She was pulled out of the car. When she tried to run away, someone struck her on the head with a brick. She was beaten and stabbed to death. Her black friends tried to stop the attack, saying she was a friend, but it was too late.


 

 In 1948, laws of apartheid, or racism and discrimination. The 1994 election was the one that ended the apartheid laws. But, the killing drew a lot of attention from across the world to South Africa's racial violence.

 



What ever happened to the 4 people who were convicted of murdering Amy. They were given prison sentences of 18 years. But, years later, they applied for amnesty with South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) . It was created so that South Africans could come to terms with an extremely troubled past. It was established to investigate the violations that took place between 1960 and 1994 and provide support and reparation to victims and their families. In 1993, the killers were pardoned by the TRC and released from prison after serving four years. At the amnesty hearings, her parents shook hands with their daughter's killers. Her father said, "The most important vehicle of reconciliation is open and honest dialogue...we are here to reconcile a human life which was taken without an opportunity for dialogue. When we are finished with this process, we must move forward with linked arms."   Both parents agreed that their daughter would have supported the decision to grant amnesty.

 

 The Amy Biehl Foundation was founded shortly after by the Biehls to keep their daughter's memory and anti-apartheid legacy alive. 

 

  So what makes Amy Biehl a model of faith? Amy had dedicated herself to ending apartheid in South Africa. She had won a Fulbright Scholarship in 1992, and because of this, she went to South Africa to become familiar with the country's culture and politics. She knew that everyone deserved equal rights, and she was trying to rid the apartheid laws of South Africa.

 

 I find her parents to be great models of faith as well. They didn't seem mad at all when they saw their daughter's killers. In fact, they shook hands with them. It was like they had forgotten all about it. They had forgiven them. They remembered to "love their enemies" and they were true Catholics.

 

 I have a few videos I'd like you to watch.

 This one scared me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9iuKe0qvmA

 This one was great, I really enjoyed how everyone seemed to be having so much fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nMTJiAxIXY

 I'm slightly confused by this commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmGfJX4skKg

 

 

Sources: "http://www.nmvoices.org/attachments/biehl_nom_form_09-web.pdf." New Mexico Voices for Children. New Mexico Voices for Children, n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. <www.nmvoices.org/attachments/biehl_nom_form_09-web.pdf>

 

 "The My Hero Project - Amy Biehl." The MY HERO Project Homepage. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. <http://www.myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=a_biehl>.

 

"Amy Biehl." S o u t h A f r i c a n H i s t o r y O n l i n e. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Nov. 2009. <http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/people/bios/biehl-a.htm>