God ended the Apartheid
It has been awhile since I have blogged. I have been extremely busy since all of my classes have been ending. Next week we begin the community aspect of our time here in South Africa.
However, that is not what I want to write about today. As many of you know South Africa has experienced major changes since 1994. Also I hope you have heard what an impact Nelson Mandela had on this country and the change it has experienced. Today I had the opportunity to hear from an unknown key player in this named Michael Cassidy. Michael Cassidy is the founder of African Enterprise. Michael Cassidy founded African Enterprise about 40 years ago. He has always fought for racial reconciliation. We had the opportunity to hear his story in Chapel.
Before the 1994 elections the country of South Africa had extreme civil unrest. There was a shocking amount of deaths and constant strife between the different races in South Africa. The country of South Africa was in intense prayer for the Apartheid to be broken and for a major change to come. Michael Cassidy had the opportunity to create a weekend experience for 96 political leaders from all different sides of the issue. He held six of these weekends. He started out the weekend by allowing the leaders to get to know each other, and ended with each leader sharing their story. Michael said many of the leaders came with body guards and machine guns. This very well could have been all over the news, but African Enterprise did everything they could to keep this from the news. According to Michael, many South Africans still do not know this part of the story. He said during this time the political leaders finally understood the motives behind their enemies and “scales fell from their eyes.” People became friends who had previously been arch enemies. These six weekends helped set the stage for an incredible change in South Africa.
The Election was set for April 27th of 1994. The country was in an incredible state of prayer. South Africa was praying like never before for the Apartheid to end and for an incredible change to sweep over this hurting nation. African Enterprise organized a prayer gathering for April 17th 1994. This was a huge risk because many religious gatherings were broken up by shooting and other horrible things. On April 17th 1994 God moved in a way only God can move, 25,000 people came to the gathering and people were praying like never before for change to come to South Africa. While the prayer gathering was happening all of the political powers that be had the opportunity to meet and came to an agreement. God changed South Africa that day.
In the next few days leading up to the election it went from extreme turmoil to extreme peace. South Africa has never experienced so much peace except for the 3 days prior to the 1994 general election. On April 27th 1994 Nelson Mandela was elected and the end of the Apartheid came.
I have not done this story justice. I knew Michael Cassidy and African Enterprise did a lot to help end the Apartheid, I had no idea that Michael Cassidy had such a significant role in ending the apartheid and bringing opposing leaders together. I cannot believe I just heard that story. Unbelievable. If Bill Hybels were to have anyone speak at the Leadership Summit, it should be Michael Cassidy. He has done so much for South Africa and so much for the continent of Africa.
