The gun clicked against his temple—and didn’t fire. Ten years later, Munro packed a suitcase for Sydney.

In Episode 14 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben sit down with Munro Donen. He grew up in Houghton, Johannesburg, in a close, bookish home where neighbours popped in for tea—including Nelson Mandela, who’d later spot Munro across an airport cordon and ask, “How’s your father?” Life felt safe, contained—until it didn’t. A violent carjacking outside his parents’ gate pulled the floorboards up. Months later, a restaurant he’d just left was held up and friends were locked in a walk-in fridge.

Trauma didn’t have a name then; it does now. What it left behind was clarity.

Australia wasn’t an instant soft landing. Munro arrived with degrees, grit, and zero shortcuts. He learned the city by driving routes at night so he wouldn’t get lost the next day. He learned the language behind the language—how “you must” becomes “you might want to,” how a “marone” car is maroon, and how “looking for a park” isn’t a lawn picnic.

He found his lane in Sydney property, building a buyer’s-agent practice with an old-school South African service ethic in a market where open homes last 20 minutes and auctions move like lightning. He picked clients up, sat with them, listened—then showed colleagues why the long car ride matters.

There were knocks, too: tall-poppy moments, pay re-cut, KPIs that made no sense. So he started his own firm. Years on, he’s helped families make the biggest call of their lives and still treats every purchase like it has his name on the contract. And the country gave something back: the night he walked through Rushcutters Bay at 2 a.m., looked around, and realised—calmly, fully—“I feel safe.”

Now settled, Munro’s circle has widened again. He raises funds with the Wits Alumni in NSW, leans into Southern Crossings, and keeps a simple promise: if you’ve just arrived, message him for a coffee. Someone did that for him 27 years ago; he remembers their names.

🎧 Listen now at https://3spod.com

Or on your favourite channel: Apple, Spotify, YouTube. Because sometimes migration isn’t just lived, it’s written.

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