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.

#AStrangerASuitcaseAndAStory #Episode14 #MunroDonon #JohannesburgToSydney #MigrationStories #Belonging #StartingOver #SafetyAndFreedom #BuyersAgent #WitsAlumni #SouthernCrossings #PayItForward #AndAndIdentity

What if the journey that changed your life wasn’t just about a new country, but about finding the courage to finally tell the truth?

You can’t outrun your past. It always finds a way into your suitcase.” – Tania Wilson

In Episode 13 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben sit down with Tania Wilson — author of The Secrets We Keep: Spilling the Beans, whose migration story stretches from a barefoot, rebellious childhood in Durban to three decades of reinvention in the United States

Tania’s memoir is raw and unflinching: tracing family tragedy, the silence that followed, and the radical relief of truth-telling

She opens up about leaving South Africa with “five suitcases and a trunk,” the heartbreak of saying goodbye to her parents, and the unexpected lessons of trying to fit in from mispronouncing La Jolla to brewing Amaretto coffee at 4:30 a.m.

But what makes her story unforgettable is how writing became her anchor. In retirement, Tania discovered a writing group that pushed her to finally bring decades of memories onto the page. Her book doesn’t just capture migration — it shows how honesty, resilience, and storytelling itself can heal across generations

This episode is about more than moving countries. It’s about grief, courage, belonging… and how one woman turned her immigrant story into a book that helps others find hope in their own.

🎧 Listen now at https://3spod.com

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

#MigrationStories #ImmigrantVoices #StrangerSuitcaseStory #PodcastCommunity #AuthorLife #TheSecretsWeKeep

“In my first month here, I told myself: just Look, Listen, and Learn.”

But what if the very skills that helped you survive back home… became the very edges you needed to soften to belong somewhere new?

In Episode 12 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben sit down with

Pierre De Villiers, whose journey has taken him from ironing school shorts in Durban, to boardrooms across the world, and finally to a new life in Australia.

Pierre’s story is one of contrasts: accountant-turned-HR leader, world traveler-turned-root builder, South African rugby fan raising Wallabies supporters. Through it all, he’s had to wrestle with the classic migrant’s question — how much of myself do I hold onto, and how much do I adapt?

He reveals the “Three L’s” that carried him through his toughest early years in Australia: Look, Listen, Learn. It’s advice that seems simple, but hides a lifetime of wisdom about patience, perspective, and the slow work of building trust in a new land.

This episode goes beyond career shifts and visas — it’s about identity, family scattered across continents, and the quiet courage of starting over when it would have been easier to stay put.

🎧 Listen now at https://3spod.com Or on your favourite channel: Apple, Spotify, YouTube.

Because sometimes migration isn’t just about moving countries. It’s about moving yourself.

#MigrationStories #ImmigrantVoices #StrangerSuitcaseStory #PodcastCommunity #Belonging #Identity