2,300 Smiles - Day 11

The meaning behind the word ubuntu is: "treating everyone with respect, being selfless, being companionate and fair, and working with others as opposed to against them." Today we heard a story and experienced a program that epitomized Ubuntu.
We began our morning at the Amy Beihl Foundation. Amy was a student working on women's and children's rights in South Africa during the early 1990's, as apartheid was coming to an end. She was brutally killed in 1993 when she happened upon a mob of political protesters. Four young men were convicted of the crime and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
The Beihls attended the Truth and Reconciliation hearing where the boys spoke about the horrible attack and asked for forgiveness. To many's surprise, Amy's parents granted them their forgiveness. Two of the boys felt they had been given a second chance and did not want to waste it. Together with the Beihls, they created the Amy Beihl foundation. This program provides after school enrichment activities centered around education AND the arts. We visited a number of the township schools today to experience a piece of South Africa's youth talent. It was inspiring, hopeful, and one of the best days yet! At one school, the sticks and cans dance team taught us a few moves. It was so much fun, the entire SAI team was smiling until our faces hurt as we made our first attempt at a traditional South African dance.
At the end of the day, I was silent and saddened on the bus ride home. If not for this tragedy, none of what we witnessed would have been possible. The 2,300 students that are reached by the Amy Beihl after school programs would go home to who knows what and not to mention, become influenced by an unknown. For two hours they are allowed to forget, they are encouraged to dream, and they given an opportunity for more. As a Christian we are stressed to about the importance of forgiveness. I wonder what the response of my parents would be, what my response when I become a parent could be, to loose a child to such a violent and hateful act. Could I forgive? Could I spend the rest of my life working next to two of my child's killers, dancing with them at their wedding, and watching them live the life I allowed them to have in spite of the life they took away from me? I pray this is never a question of which I am required to seek an answer to.