Building a children’s home in South Africa took one decision at 17. In this Grit Diaries episode, Harrison Nash shares 19 years of sustained care, the grief that comes with it, and what real transformation looks like when you actually stay.
⚠️ 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
At 17, Harrison Nash deferred his university place to volunteer as a teacher in South Africa. Four months later, saying goodbye to a young boy too young to understand he was leaving changed everything. That moment sparked a question: why do children in care experience people coming and going their whole lives?
Nineteen years on, Harrison has built Maranatha Care Children from scratch on Google, studying social work simultaneously, and created a registered children’s home that admits kids from across South Africa. This is not a story of rescue or inspiration porn. It is an account of what happens when someone decides the work is worth staying for, and what that costs.
During COVID, the centre took in children as young as one year old, something they had never done before. Harrison coordinated schooling across ten institutions, managed waves of grief as children lost family members, and watched young people he met at 18 now forge adult lives and careers. One young woman, on the streets at nine, is now a commis chef at a five-star hotel after completing an online mentorship program. Another is a woodworker.
Harrison is explicit: the children are the real heroes. His role is to remove obstacles and create opportunity.
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Harrison Nash
05:23 Growing up in Plymouth
08:13 First day teaching: 40 kids, no co-teacher
09:56 Walking into Maranatha
11:41 The boy who didn’t understand goodbye
13:00 Founding a charity on Google
18:29 The Queen’s Honours and COVID lockdown
22:00 Suddenly younger children: the reality of crisis
25:19 Loving at social distance
29:30 From the streets to five-star chef
39:30 The medal came home
41:45 Support the work
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📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Maranatha Care Children: maranathforcarechildren.com
Lifeline Australia: 13 11 14 or text 0477 131114
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ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES
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Welcome.
We’re glad you found your way here.
Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.
Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object’s history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.
This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn’t go to plan.
Here you’ll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:
• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham
• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale
• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova
• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd
• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience
• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer
Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.
Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you’re welcome here.
New episodes are released fortnightly across our series.
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Thank you for being part of this community.
We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.
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