AS A CHILD, growing up in South Africa, I found it incomprehensible that normal, sensible people could support the system of apartheid, which was so obviously evil. I remember clearly the general elections that were held when I was eight years old. My parents supported the only legal political party that was in favor of abolishing apartheid.

In my childlike innocence, I was convinced that—despite 40 years of history showing the contrary—this year a new ruling party would be voted into power, and apartheid would be abolished. A system that separated people based on skin color could not last. I was convinced.

But I was wrong.

In 1987 the National Party was reelected once again as the majority government. The government representative in my community, who was a member of the National Party, was also reelected. I couldn't believe it! I went to school the next day, following the release of the election results, and quietly said to my Grade 1 teacher, "Can you believe that we lost the elections?" Maybe you can imagine my surprise and horror when my favorite teacher said, "Oh no, Verity—we won!"

And the election results were even worse than my young mind could imagine. Not only was the National Party still in power, but a more extreme right–wing party became the official opposition in Parliament. This party supported the apartheid system even more than did the National Party.

During this time the country was constantly in a state of emergency. Riots, which resulted from violent clashes between white and black South Africans, happened all the time. I asked myself, Where is God in all of this?

As a child, I attended a Christian Science Sunday School and often read Mary Baker Eddy's book Science and Health to help me make sense of the world around me. What I learned in Sunday School about God making all people equal and perfect certainly did not measure up with what I saw. One passage that I read many times said, "One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfills the Scripture, 'Love thy neighbor as thyself; annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed" (p. 340).

But as I looked around, I could see that there was clearly something very wrong in the "social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes" in my country during the 1980s. Socially, people were separated on the basis of their skin color. Civilly, we were a nation divided. Criminally, the country was a disaster, as it was a crime to be married to someone of a different skin color. Politically, the country could only be described as wicked. And religiously, South Africa used its churches to validate the political ideals of apartheid.

So, again, where was God in all of this? I now believe that although the world looked like a horrible place at the time, God was actually right there, consistently guiding those willing to be guided, giving suggestions to those listening to Him, adjusting the laws in South Africa to His divine laws.

Science and Health describes error as the opposite of God's law. To me, this means that everything that is unlike God is an error, is something unreal. However, throughout my life I've found that these so–called errors can often be pretty convincing. I can now see that those elections in 1987, and subsequent elections in 1989, were the last gasp of error about South Africa. As the saying goes, "The Darkest hour comes just before dawn." I can also see now that the prayers of everyone in South Africa, and of people around the world for South Africa, were being answered. And once the transformation began, things started to happen pretty rapidly.

At the end of 1989, then-President F.W. de Klerk started talks with South Africa's future president Nelson Mandela. In early 1990, African political parties were legalized, and the death sentence was suspended indefinitely. In February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years of imprisonment. Black and white South Africans celebrated together! Slowly you could see the strength of divine Love emerging in South African society. Natural bonds of brotherhood were gaining strength, and the old walls of fear and hatred were crumbling.

In December 1990, my family and I flew up to Zimbabwe to see our relatives living there. We had a connecting flight in Johannesburg, and when we landed there, we saw thousands and thousands of people milling about, as well as police with dogs and automatic rifles. There was great excitement, and also some tension in the air. We learned that Oliver Tambo, then–president of the African National Congress party, had just flown into Johannesburg, and the crowds of people were waiting to welcome him. He had been in exile for more than 30 years.

He walked out on a balcony and waved to his supporters, greeting them. The young soldiers did not use their weapons that day. It was a day of celebrating, not of fighting. A day celebrating the triumph of love, not of hatred.

Although there was still some opposition on the part of some white South Africans to the progress being made, in 1992 a referendum was held. The purpose of it was to ask the white population whether or not the negotiations to end white minority rule should continue. Eighty–six percent of the white population voted. And 70 percent of them voted in favor of continuing the negotiations. This was progress, indeed. The erroneous laws in South Africa were being adjusted.

A hymn I love says,

As apartheid began to crumble, I felt that divine Love's plan was becoming clearer in South Africa, and that God's work was being seen and understood by more and more people. From the referendum in 1992 to the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa entered what I can only describe as a period of prayer. It seemed everyone was praying for peace. For example, even at my school, at noon every day we would all stop what we were doing and pray for peaceful elections. When our school received bomb threats and things seemed shaky, we just continued praying—not just for our own safety, but for the safety of people all over South Africa.

And finally the day came, April 27, 1994, when all South Africans voted together for a government they felt would accept, recognize, and support all the people of their country. Archbishop Desmond Tutu has often referred to South Africa as the "Rainbow Nation." When I think of a rainbow, I think of God's promise to humanity—a promise of love, not of hatred; a promise of peace, not of war; a promise of life, not of death.

As the world has now seen from the outstanding example of people like Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and the efforts of people in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, there is tremendous potential for South Africa. And there is an overwhelming potential for Mary Baker Eddy's belief to be realized in my homeland and around the world that "one infinite God, good, unifies men and nations . . . ."