Each year I spend three months in South Africa doing volunteer work in a Zulu community in a semirural area. It is a country I love, and it has become my second home. One cannot spend time there, however, without being aware of the crime statistics and the challenges people face in everyday life. Because of this, and because it is my normal procedure, I start each day praying and studying the Christian Science Bible Lesson. I do not leave home without having an assurance of God’s government and ceaseless control over all.
One morning last year, I left for work on a day of drenching rain. I drove to the valley where I work and started slowly down a winding road. Visibility was poor and the road was slippery. Suddenly a car going at great speed came up behind me, with another car going just as fast behind it. My right indicator light was on, as I was about to turn off the road to go farther down into the valley. I realized as I looked in the rear vision mirror that neither car was going to be able to stop in time because of the speed at which they were traveling. The car immediately behind me swerved to the left to avoid my car, but the car behind him went straight into the back of his car at great speed.
Fortunately neither driver was hurt, but there was considerable damage to both cars. A crowd of people quickly gathered despite the rain. Both drivers were extremely agitated and distressed. The driver of the first car came over to me in a very aggressive manner and accused me of failing to indicate that I was turning, thus causing the accident. I replied calmly that I had indicated, which enraged him even more. By this time, all the people lower in the valley, the people with whom I have been working for the past nine years, started coming out of their huts, to gather protectively around my car.
