Hanging with the Royal Family in Bali

Why is it that the best miracles are always the longest to type out? This week’s miracle starts in Africa and ends in Bali.

Four years ago, I met his Royal Highness, Prince Cedza Dlamini, Prince of Swaziland and grandson of Nelson Mandela. He had flown from Boston, USA to Cape Town to meet me as he had heard that I was living as the only white man in a black African township (shanty town). Prince Cedza and I quickly became good friends…

Fast forward four years. A few days ago, I was checking out of the beautiful Vision Villas (Roger Hamilton’s resort in Bali). My Dad, who has been sailing around the world for 4 years on his yacht had not had his feet on dry land for a while, so I treated him to a week in this magnificent resort. We were the only people there for the entire week we stayed there. The night before we left, my Dad asked me if I was still in contact with Prince Cedza. “Yes”, I replied, “but not often enough”.

On the last day in the resort, as I was checking out, a beautiful American woman appeared at the hotel. She introduced herself as Flo (an apt name, I noted, especially considering Roger Hamilton’s work is all about Flow and we were in his resort) and I joked with her that she could have at least had the courtesy to arrive a few days earlier, not when we were checking out! We laughed and she noticed my South African accent.

“A friend of mine is South African” she said to me. In fact, he is a Prince. “Really”, I replied. “Is his name Prince Cedza?” I asked playfully, not expecting her to know what I meant. “Yes!” she exclaimed, “Nelson Mandela’s grandson!”

At this point, my jaw dropped at the coincidence. I asked her how she knew Prince Cedza and she said that she had met him at a conference in Bali the previous year and that she was here to attend the conference again this year. As she said those words, it dawned on her that she had forgotten to tell me something important…

“In fact, Prince Cedza is the main speaker at this year’s conference and he lands in Bali tonight!”

Well, at this point I was astounded. What are the chances of meeting a woman as I am checking out of the hotel that knows Prince Cedza, and then tells me he is landing in Bali that day, only the day after my Dad had asked me about the Prince. I recognized this was a miracle in the making and knew I was being led to the Prince.

Flo and I, fast becoming good friends, decided to drive to Denpasar Airport and wait, like stalkers, for Cedza to arrive. He did not know which flight he was arriving on and it took us three hours before he came through the arrival gates (its not hard to spot a black man in Bali!). His face was one of pure confusion at seeing me in Bali with his friend Flo.

Fast forward a few hours and we were having dinner Prince Cedza and his cousin Prince Zulu (Prince of the Zulu tribe, the biggest tribe in South Africa). By the end of the evening, Prince Cedza had asked me to speak as a special guest of his at the conference he was attending in Bali. He kindly put us up in rooms at his 5 Star hotel and we spend the next day lounging by the pool catching up.

Let me tell you why this is such a miracle for me. One of my life’s goals is to make a massive difference to the mindsets of South Africans. I want to do this by working with leaders in South Africa. The only leader I knew up until this point was Prince Cedza.

Well, over the last three days, I have befriended Prince Muzi (Cedza’s father, Nelson Mandela’s son and one of the most well connected men in South Africa), Prince Zulu (son of the Zulu King) and Princess Fikile (Princess of the Ndabele tribe). I know that these people appeared in my life (almost magically) only because of my big goal. Every day, I am getting closer and closer to my goal.

If you have read this far, thank you. If you are inspired – that’s great. But, if you want your own miracles in your own life of a daily, weekly and monthly basis, then you would be wise to create a BIG goal for your life. Better still, attend a Designer Life workshop or one-on-one Blueprinting session and I will help create it with you.

Till the next miracle, I’m off to the beach! (pictures to come)