The Relocated South African
The Relocated South African
Podcast Description
The show for navigating emigration from South Africa for a better future.
Join host Jan Hugo as he shares authentic emigration stories from South Africans who've taken the leap. You'll hear about what drove their decision to leave, the mistakes they made, and how they've built new lives abroad.
We'll explore everything from the emotional reality of leaving friends and family behind, to the challenges of emigrating to a foreign country.
Relocating isn't always simple, but this show will provide you with the certainty, practical information and support to make the whole process easier.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers essential emigration topics such as motivations for leaving South Africa, individual challenges faced in new countries, and the emotional toll of relocating. Episodes delve into specific themes like finding community abroad, cultural adaptation, and building new lives, with concrete examples from guests like Steven Phyffer discussing family moves to Australia and Siobhan Erasmus sharing her journey to Spain.
The show for navigating emigration from South Africa for a better future.
Join host Jan Hugo as he shares authentic emigration stories from South Africans who’ve taken the leap. You’ll hear about what drove their decision to leave, the mistakes they made, and how they’ve built new lives abroad.
We’ll explore everything from the emotional reality of leaving friends and family behind, to the challenges of emigrating to a foreign country.
Relocating isn’t always simple, but this show will provide you with the certainty, practical information and support to make the whole process easier.
You’ve probably seen South Africa in the news a lot lately – and not a lot of it is good news! How does the news impact the decision to leave, stay, or even return? And what is it that keeps people positive about South Africa, despite all the challenges that make headlines?
In this episode, I had the privilege of sitting down with Paul Harris, a well-known South African entrepreneur, businessman, and one of the founders of Rand Merchant Bank – and my former boss, I might add! With so much negativity and noise in the media about South Africa, often from those who have left, I wanted to get Paul’s perspective on why he still feels so strongly about the country, and why it's important to report good news too.
Chatting with Paul was a refreshing experience, mainly because of his ongoing optimism about South Africa, even when times are tough. Our conversation helped me reflect on my own journey and the reasons behind deciding to move abroad. It also reminded me why, despite having left, I’ll always love my country!
Hopefully, our discussion can help others think more deeply about what it really means to stay or leave, and how much our attitude and actions can impact our future – no matter where we are in the world.
“I'm a proper South African and more South African than any Australian is Australian and any American is an American.” – Paul Harris
00:00 Introduction
05:33 South Africa's resilience over the years
06:35 Being positive about South Africa
11:12 “Would you live in the wilderness or would you live in a zoo?”
16:09 South Africans are resourceful and aspirational
21:56 Adapting to a new culture abroad
27:38 Improving South Africa-US relations
32:14 Navigating opinions on social media
Resources
- Read Paul’s original ‘message to a friend overseas’ on Biznewshere: https://www.biznews.com/sarenewal/2025/01/14/paul-harris-no-need-to-stress-about-sa
This podcast was produced by the team at Zapods Podcast Agency:
https://www.zapods.com
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