Day 5: Dear Family, I promise to never ask for anything again.

Who knew that when I woke up this morning I would go to bed as a different person? We all attended a seminar taught by the director of the Amy Biehl Foundation, but it wasn’t anything close to a head-dozing talk. Prior to today, I had never heard such an enlightening story. Amy Biehl was a young American student who wanted to change the world. After studying African history at Stanford, she decided to travel to South Africa in order to help the citizens achieve democratic equality in the early 1990’s. Her entire mission stemmed from her dream to see white, blacks, and coloureds live together in harmony. However, one evening, her plan took a different course. On her way home, Amy drove through an angry mob of blacks revolting against the white supremacy. All they saw was a young, alone, white woman coming towards them. In rage, they beat and killed Amy just days before an expecting engagement from her long-term boyfriend. Rather than succumbing to the tragedy, her parents decided to continue her dream through the Amy Biehl Foundation. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the parents publicly forgave Amy’s four murderers and even argued for their early release from prison. In fact, the foundation currently employs two of her murders.

Today, the Amy Biehl Foundation does extraordinary good for the community. And, I got to see it in action! After the compelling orator spoke, we took a tour through the townships where the foundation helps so many children. I have never seen such poverty of this magnitude in my life. For miles, you can only see lines of pieces of metal roves and wooden blocks. The members of each community simply find material scraps to build a place for their family to live. Men, women, children, goats, horses, and dogs roam the street constantly. I could not believe how many young children, kindergarten age and younger, walk the streets barefooted and alone. At one point, our bus got stuck in the narrow streets. Several men ran up to the bus and did everything they could to help us navigate. They exhibit so much joy in what very little they have. I should take note.

Finally, we arrived at our first school!!! I was beaming with excitement! The Amy Biehl Foundation provides schooling, fine arts, health and nutrition, life skills, and AIDS prevention programs for its students. When we entered the school, they had an elaborate performance lined up for us. The older students played their xylophones while the younger children showed off their dance moves. I definitely saw baby Beyonces and Kanyes in the audience. Of course, I joined in and am currently holding my thighs in pain…completely worth every minute!

Later, we joined another foundation school to see their entire dance and music performance. Amazing! Good grief, these kids could break it down! Even after 18+ years of dance training, I could not believe how talented they were. Although the dancing was phenomenal, I enjoyed talking to two little boys much more. Both third graders, I was stunned at how academically behind they were in comparison to the United States (and we aren’t exactly on the top of the list). They showed me their basic subtraction and number recognition homework and even taught me alittle Afrikaans. I think they enjoyed me reading to them the most. (I did too!) Such an inspiring day! I can’t wait for more!