Today South Africa’s all around the world went to polling stations to vote in the SA general elections. The queue outside South Africa House snaked across Trafalgar Square and Ali queued for over three hours to vote. Unfortunately I discovered too late that my ID book had expired and could not get a new one in time to vote. (I hold duel citizenship of SA & UK, although born in Namibia…)

I don’t have any comments to make about the political situation in SA, because frankly I feel its just too easy to advise from the side-lines, having been living out of SA since before the first free elections in 1994. But I do want to tell a bit a personal story…

I was already in the UK at that time of the first democratic elections, which took place 20 years ago, on 27 April, 1994.  Nelson Mandela was voted in as its the first ever black president.

Shortly before this we had just moved into a small one-bedroom flat in a short little street called “All Saints Road” in Notting Hill, just up the road from the Portobello Market.  As the election results were published, our little street began to fill with people, and they just kept on coming and coming until there was no more room. We couldn’t understand it, until we discovered that this little street had been the hub of organising peaceful demonstrations against Apartheid in London, and now these people were celebrating victory with people of all races – including a good bunch of Rastafarians shouting “Amandla! Amandla! right under our first floor flat window where the church started in our tiny lounge…

Maybe the Lord positioned us there to be inspired to dream a dream to change the world, and show us its possible, right under our noses!   What has He shown you lately?