Linda Biehl told yesterday's audience that she and her husband, Peter, received funding in 1997 and began a number of programs to help the community of Guguletu, the same community where Amy was killed. The programs mainly target the community's youth, who channeled their post-apartheid energies into violence within the community. Examples of their programs center on remedial schools, tutoring for children who wish to attend to school and practical trade skills such as leather working or sewing. Working to prevent violence, the Biehls started youth panels where the youngsters discuss problems in the community and possible solutions. The Biehls started a bread-baking company in South Africa to help generate employment among the community.
Workers produce and deliver bread to private homes as well as to businesses.
The Biehls stressed that their programs' success rests on their own economic stability, as well as on accountability in the communities of South Africa. People need to accept responsibility for their rights. The people are amazingly forgiving, but they have a lot of suspicion and mistrust. That is one of the major problems in trying to make progress. The talk was part of a series of events sponsored by UC Berkeley's Townsend Center for Humanities, Human Rights Center and Institute for International Studies.