Mandela Meets With Biehls in S. Africa
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PAARL, South Africa — The sister of slain American student Amy Biehl took comfort Wednesday in a hug from black South African leader Nelson Mandela.
“He’s just got this strength. . . . If I can be as strong as he could, we’ll make it,” Molly Biehl said after she and her mother, Linda, met the African National Congress president for the first time.
“He’s a truly magnificent man--warm and a visionary. I hope he’s around for a long time,” Linda Biehl said.
Mandela said he met the Biehls with “a mixture of pain and joy,” and said he was pleased to have been able to convey his sympathies.
Molly Biehl said her sister, a 26-year-old Fulbright scholar from Newport Beach, met Mandela a few months before she was beaten and stabbed to death by a black mob in Guguletu township last Aug. 25.
Amy Biehl, who was white, had worked on voter education projects in preparation for the country’s first all-race election in April.
Molly and Linda Biehl are in South Africa to monitor the trial of three youths charged with murdering Amy Biehl.
The trial began in November and resumed Monday after a holiday recess.
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