Linda Biehl
Tonight is an emotionally charged evening for me, and I appreciate the opportunity to thank NDI for the event and for this amazing award.
My experiences since Amy's death have been both humbling and powerful.
Amy believed in democracy as a way of life. She was a person who believed education was key to development of individual potential-and a democratic society allowed that potential to flourish in a collective environment.
I will relate this evening a real-life example of what Amy's beliefs have meant and are meaning to two young African men.
They were born in the 1970s and were raised in the township of Guguletu on the edge of Cape Town, South Africa. They were born into poverty, as 80 percent of the population lived in poverty. They were taught by their families, their politicians and comrades to hate white people; their oppressors. They were struggling to unshackle themselves from the insidious system of separateness-of apartheid.
From their early primary school days, they became "child soldiers." Their school days were filled with marches, political meetings and rallies, with stoning of vehicles. It was a time of slogans: "Liberation before Education"; "One Settler-One Bullet"
Violence was the norm, not the exception.
As the boys grew in age, so did their political activism increase, and-yes-these two were involved in the attack on Amy in Guguletu on August 25, 1993.
Fortunately, South Africa's struggle was not in vain, and as we all celebrated the elections of 1994, we saw the birth of this fragile democracy based on a multi-cultural, non-racial, non-sexist society. Even Amy's research notes were used in the creation of the wonderful, progressive Bill of Rights and Constitution of the new South Africa.
During this time the two young men in my story had been convicted of murder and public violence, and were serving 18-year prison sentences.
However, in 1997 they applied for amnesty under the Truth and Reconciliation Commission established by the South African Parliament to deal with the aftermath of apartheid. They proved their case and were granted amnesty, after serving four and a half years in prison.
Upon their release, in July, 1998, a new chapter in their story began.
They-like millions of young people-had to merge into this new South African democracy. How do they become responsible citizens when their educations were interrupted, when employable skills were not taught, when HIV/AIDS ravages their country, when poverty still has the upper hand?
But these two young men came forward and in the spirit of reconciliation have become integral staff members of the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust. They are helping the Foundation understand the daunting issues that still face South Africans like themselves. They are learning to work with people of many races, cultures and countries. They are sharing their hopes and dreams. They are functioning well in a democratic society.
They want their future wives to be partners, not property. They want their children to be educated…they want what we all want…peaceful, productive lives.
But we, as educated citizens of the world, need to be capacity builders, mentors, helpmates…whatever it takes to help young people around the world fulfill their potential.
These young men, as young people everywhere, are in great need of loving support in handling situations they have never been exposed to in worlds of tyranny, in worlds of war and poverty. Decisionmaking is difficult if you haven't had the opportunity to think for yourself.
The story of Easy Nofemela and Ntobeko Peni is not just a South African story. I see their faces every time I see youth struggling around the world.
Peter Biehl
Linda has it right. Young democrats in South Africa and throughout our changing world have lots of questions as they struggle with choices-with options they have only begun to experience as free people.
They seek help in these struggles from those to whom they attribute experience
I am struck by how similar this challenge is to parenting. How else does it happen that two parents share an evening with world-builders of the stature of Kofi Annan or of Madeleine Albright?
Recently, during Parents' Weekend at Duke University, Ambassador James Joseph introduced us as "universal parents":
[But] on this occasion, I want to introduce them to you as universal parents who have been adopted by young people of varied colors and cultures and from widely different campuses and communities. And they have responded as parents do by encouraging, supporting, nurturing and inspiring countless young people to reach deep within for their better selves. They will tell you that the engagement with South Africa had been a transforming experience for the many students with whom they work. The students, on the other hand, will tell you that the opportunity to work with Linda and Peter through the Amy Biehl Foundation has been an equally transforming experience.
We asked them to speak to you today because they understand that when neighbors help neighbors, and even when strangers help strangers, both those who help and those who are helped are transformed. So I present them to you as surrogate parents for many students and role models for us all, two people who represent the best in the American spirit and the best in the American character.
While exceedingly generous in his remarks, Jim has hit upon the transformative aspects of parenting. Everyone learns something from the experience. A child is enabled, parents are led by a child (as we were led by Amy).
We learn from Ntobeko and Easy-contextual enrichment, if you will. Our relationships are mutually-transformative in important respects.
Contextual enrichment is well within the capacity of young democrats (or children) to provide, and it is invaluable to our understanding of them-of why they do as they do.
The importance of this understanding of context was brought home to us recently in the High Holy Day speech of Mr. Howard Mirowitz, delivered to his congregation in Tustin, California in the confusing days following September 11. Linda and I had spoken at Mr. Mirowitz's synagogue on the evening of September 8.
But this is the very faith of Abraham, lifting his knife above Isaac to strike the fatal blow. Perhaps it is also the faith of the Biehls, that understanding will come in accepting not only incomprehensible tragedy, but also its context-the social and political background that led to it-and through that acceptance, achieving a transcendent forgiveness and a new purpose in life in helping to repair the destruction that evil visits on the world; a purpose that can be an example to all humanity.'
Linda also learned a valuable lesson in parenting from a professor in college, who advised his students to "…raise your children to enjoy them as adults."
We must approach young democrats in this way because we want their new worlds-their democracies-to mature and be self-sustaining over time.
You can see the metaphoric link between parenting and the work of NDI. Perhaps this is why we always sensed that Amy was "at home" at NDI-why we have been at ease here and why this Harriman Award means so much.
For all of us, our work is transformative and valuable.
And our work will never end. NDI will discover with young adult democracies what Linda and I have learned from our young friends-that "a cool parent is always great to have around."
