A Stranger, a Suitcase and a Story
by Anton and Ben
We all carry a suitcase packed with stories from where we’ve come from and dreams of where we’re headed.A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story is a podcast about people who’ve lefthome to build a new life in a new land. Hosted by two immigrants, Anton van der Walt and Ben Liebenberg, this series explores the emotional, professional, and entrepreneurial journeys of immigrants who’ve rebuilt, reinvented, and reimagined their lives. Inspired by Bruno Catalano’s sculpture I Viaggiatori, this podcast dives into the themes of identity, belonging, resilience, and the spaces we fill along the way.
Episodes
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Why Zig When You Can Zagga with Alan Greenstein
He shipped 200 bottles of single malt to Australia — and paid more in duty than they were worth. Then opened his home every month and shared every single one. Within a year he had a network. Within a decade he had built a $3 billion business. None of it was an accident. Alan Greenstein didn't…
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Where Purpose Meets Philanthropy with Lawrence Jackson
He arrived in Australia in 1982 - one of the first wave of South Africans to leave. He brought Mango Groove on tour. Helped raise the first $1 billion philanthropy campaign in Australian history. And is now rebuilding a university's connection to its diaspora, from the outside. Oh, and he never...
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Accident of Design with Sanushka Seomangal
She filled out a university application form for fun. Got accepted. Moved to Australia. Got rejected by every law firm she applied to. Went home. Came back. Got rejected again. Today she's a partner at one of Australia's top tier law firms. Some stories don't follow a plan. This is one of them....
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Towards Something with Dan Nel
He spent two and a half years waking up at midnight to work Australian hours from South Africa. He got divorced three weeks before he boarded the plane. He landed in Melbourne — alone — with a golf bag that cost him R19,000 just to check in. Was it worth it? This is one of those episodes that…
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Before You Pack That Suitcase with Sean Kupferberg
80 enquiries a day. From people dreaming of leaving South Africa. Less than 10% actually make it happen. What separates the ones who do... from the ones who don't? Anton and Ben sat down with someone who's seen it all, not as someone who emigrated, but as the person sitting across the desk when...
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The long game with Tim Netscher
Tim did not just build mines in some of the most remote parts of the world…he built something far more lasting. Tim Netscher’s story stretches across continents, industries and decades, but what emerges from this conversation is not simply a career in mining. It is something far more human, and…
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What It Means to Be the Other with Paul Hanley
You don’t realise who you are…until you arrive somewhere you have to learn how to belong In Episode 25 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben are joined by Paul Hanley - a story that moves well beyond finance and into something far more human. Born and raised in Johannesburg, Paul...
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Fighting Extinction with Dr Jenny Gray AM
What does it feel like to arrive just in time to witness an extinction? In Episode 24 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben are joined by Dr Jenny Gray AM, Chief Executive Officer of Zoos Victoria, whose journey spans Johannesburg, Durban and Melbourne, and whose leadership has...
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Tinker First with Dawid Naudé
What if the advantage isn’t being the smartest person in the room… but being willing to break things until they work? Anton speak to Dawid Naudé, whose story moves back and forth between Australia and South Africa with five years of childhood in Australia, then back to the Eastern Cape, and later…
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Serious Work, Good Wine with Paul Fontanot
What happens when a career built on facts, figures, and investigations collides with the very human question of where, and how you want to raise a family? Anton and Ben sit down with Paul Fontanot, whose journey spans forensic accounting, partnership, migration, and a surprisingly memorable...
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Starting Again, together with Kevin & Romaine Mackenzie
What happens when your big adventure finally arrives… fourteen years late and just weeks before the world shuts down? Anton and Ben sit down with Kevin and Romaine Mackenzie, a Johannesburg-born couple whose migration story is as much about partnership as it is about place. After waiting 14 years...
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Dr Manny Pohl: The Things You Can Live With
What if success is not measured by what you accumulate, but by what lets you sleep at night? Anton and Ben sit down with Dr Manny Pohl in Episode 20 of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story. Our first episode of 2026, and a fitting one to begin the year. Manny’s story starts on the Blyvooruitzicht...
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Season One with Anton and Ben - The Stories That Proved We are Not Alone
What if the thing you thought made you different… is the very thing that connects you to everyone else? Anton and Ben did not set out to make a podcast. They started with a conversation. Two migrants comparing notes over a glass of wine, asking a simple question: “Why did no one tell us this…
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Margaret Dreyer - Generosity with a Backbone
She didn’t wait for permission, she built a table, pulled up chairs, and told women, “Your voice belongs here.” Anton and Ben sit down with MD (Margaret Dreyer), whose default setting is “How can I help?” and whose north star is growing women’s talent wherever she stands. From becoming South...
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Yourself or Someone Like You with Grant Parkin
When everything familiar fell away, did he double down on bitterness or choose a frame that let him move forward? He thought getting knocked down was the headline. It wasn’t. The story is how he keeps standing. Anton and Ben sit down with Grant Parkin, who grew up in East London, migrated to...
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Courage Without Drama, The Andrew Reitzer Story
Anton and Ben sit down with Andrew Reitzer, and this onestays with you. Born in Johannesburg to Holocaust survivor parents. Raisedin Cape Town. A life that arcs from a small family glove factory to the CEO seat of Metcash, turning a $240 million loss into a thriving ASX Top 100 company… and yet,...
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The Long Road Home with Kaveer Soni
“We landed with two suitcases, a toddler, and no idea wherewe were going after the airport.” In this powerful new episode of A Stranger, A Suitcase,and A Story, Anton and Ben sit down with Kaveer Soni, a Durban-born lawyer whose life has been a tapestry of faith, grit, heartbreak, and…
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Second Start with Munro Donen
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...
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You can’t outrun your past with Tania Wilson
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...
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Look, Listen and Learn with Pierre de Villiers
“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...
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From Ali to Australia with Mark Stanbridge
“Ali’s on the plane… and Chris Hani’s been assassinated.” The tour Mark helped organise became a peace mission before the wheels hit the tarmac. Back in Durban, Mark’s legal career was rising when 1993 rewrote the script. Muhammad Ali arrived; the country erupted. Overnight, logistics turned to...
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A Liberal Spine, Forged with Mark Stanbridge
In 1984 he nominated Nelson Mandela for Chancellor, when “terrorist” was still the word echoing down campus corridors. Mark Stanbridge’s beginnings read like a paradox: a carefree Free State childhood and a country split by curfews and colour lines. Around a dinner table of books and debate, he...
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Called to Leave, Chosen to Begin Again with Ryan Walker
“Immigration is not for sissies. If anyone tells you it’s easy, they’re lying.” What do you do when life hands you a choice between comfort and calling? For Ryan Walker, it meant leaving behind his beloved grandmother, a young daughter, and the familiar rhythms of Johannesburg to answer something...
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No Regret, Just Purpose with John Chan
Everything around him had settled—but inside, he still feltlost. He had the house. His kids were thriving. His wife had embraced the new life. But John Chan couldn’t shake the feeling: “I was the only one who hadn’tarrived.” In Episode 8 of A Stranger, A Suitcase & A Story,John shares the quiet…
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No plan B - Just keep going with Francois Scheepers
He arrived in Australia with no job, no backup plan, and noguarantee it would work. But Francois Scheepers had already made the decision: “I’m going to make thiswork.” In Episode 7 of A Stranger, A Suitcase & A Story,Francois Scheepers shares the raw, real journey of building a life from scratch…
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When It Finally Feels Like Home with Kevin Horstmann
We packed up our lives into nine suitcases… and waited.And waited. For four years, Kevin Horstmann and his family lived inlimbo, chasing a dream that seemed like it might never come. Just when he was about to give up, something extraordinaryhappened. In Episode 6 of A Stranger, a Suitcase and a...
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From Cold Concrete to Crisp Air with Donovan Odendaal
“This wasn’t my idea,” Donovan admits, yet the decision tomove across the world reshaped everything: his identity, his career, and hisfamily’s future. This episode, on the podcast A Stranger, a suitcase and aStory, is about a man who didn’t plan tomigrate, but found something better than he...
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Backpacks, Bold Moves, and Belonging with Nicol & Mareli
Backpacks, Bold Moves, and Belonging: Nicol &Mareli’s Journey to Australia They left everything behind… not because they had to, butbecause they wanted to see what else was possible. In this heartfelt and uplifting episode, Anton and Ben sitdown with Nicol and Mareli, a young South African couple...
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Faith, Family, and a Fresh Start with Afzal Ali
From Resettling Doubts to Rebuilding Dreams: Afzal's Journey to Belonging. In this episode, Afzal Ali shares what it really feels like to leave a successful life behind and start over in a new country. He speaks candidly about growing up in a huge, tight-knit family in India, his early struggles...
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What we carried and What we Found with Ben and Anton
In this episode of A Stranger, A Suitcase & A Story, Anton and Ben continue their personal migration stories—sharing what happened after they arrived in Australia. From emotional goodbyes and missed funerals to flat batteries, rugby injuries, and shoe-stuffed suitcases, they reflect on the...
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Before the Journey Began with Ben and Anton
In this first episode of A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story, Anton and Ben share their personal journeys—before the suitcases were packed and the planes were boarded. They reflect on who they were back home in South Africa, the careers they had built, and the lives they lived before making the...
About this show
We all carry a suitcase packed with stories from where we’ve come from and dreams of where we’re headed.A Stranger, A Suitcase, and A Story is a podcast about people who’ve lefthome to build a new life in a new land. Hosted by two immigrants, Anton van der Walt and Ben Liebenberg, this series explores the emotional, professional, and entrepreneurial journeys of immigrants who’ve rebuilt, reinvented, and reimagined their lives. Inspired by Bruno Catalano’s sculpture I Viaggiatori, this podcast dives into the themes of identity, belonging, resilience, and the spaces we fill along the way.
Hosted by
Anton and Ben