Finding hope in the hopeless

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses abuse & exploitation, which some listeners may find distressing.

If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available:
• Blue Knot Foundation (complex trauma): 1300 657 380 · blueknot.org.au
• 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au

Harrison was headed for a media career in London until, at 17, he deferred his university place to volunteer in South Africa as a teacher and children's home worker. A four-month stint changed everything. Watching children who had experienced profound trauma still show up with engagement and positivity, and sitting with the weight of leaving them behind, crystallised his purpose: these children should not have people come in and out of their lives. He returned to the UK, started Maranatha Care Children from scratch on Google, and enrolled in social work simultaneously. Nineteen years on, he has built a residential centre that admits children from across South Africa, exposed them to mentorship, vocational training, and real opportunity. COVID forced an overhaul: younger children arrived in crisis, he coordinated schooling across ten institutions, managed grief and loss, and watched young people he'd met at 18 now forge adult lives and careers. He returned to Plymouth last year but remains deeply embedded in the work.

Harrison Nash is a UK-based charity director and social work supervisor who founded Maranatha Care Children in South Africa 19 years ago after a gap-year volunteering stint at 18.

🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 The interview begins
05:23 Growing up in Plymouth: media, music, and family
08:13 First day teaching in South Africa: 40 kids, no co-teacher
09:56 Walking into Maranatha: the moment everything shifted
11:41 The boy who didn't understand goodbye
13:00 Founding a charity on Google while studying social work
18:29 The Queen's Honours and COVID lockdown
22:00 Suddenly younger children: the reality of crisis
25:19 Loving at social distance: grief during lockdown
29:30 From the streets to the five-star kitchen
39:30 The medal came home to the children
41:45 How to support the work: next steps

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Maranatha Care Children: maranathaforcarechildren.com
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14 or text 0477 131114

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Show notes by TBC · Approved by TBC · Australian English

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