Young and used

it is abit of a long story, but Ill try and explain in a shortened way. when I was 17, i was working for a hospitality company and my manager was a very friendly older person(around his 40's) who "has expierienced all aspects of life" and was previously a pastor of a church back in Sydney(Australia). He took a shine to me, and always spoke of how he wanted to start his own businessin computer management and helping kids with having a place to go and have fun and play games. he basically told me when i turn 18 i should get a creditcard to get funding and to help him create that dream. his reason for not being able to do the same was that he had 4 young kids(which was true) and most of his money goes towards food, rent, etc. he did have designs, knew people in real estate, etc(so i thought)... when i finally turned 18, i had gotten a credit card with a limit of $10,000 and we used to go to auctions to buy cheap merchandise and furniture which he would reimburse me when everything was done.we stored everything at his house as he did have quite a big shed for storage. after months of purchamsing furniture and stock and taking out money(from the crebdit card) to give him so he can set up his meetings with his real estate people. i had maxed out my credit card. whilst paying roughtly $250 a week so my credit card didnt default but kept at the same limit, a few weeks had passed and he was still "setting up a building." one week he told me he was sick and wouldnt be in work, and i hadnt heard from him for the entire week, presuming he was quite sick. the second week came and the owner of the company that i was working for had come in and informed us that our manager had quit unexpentantly. once i had finished work, i had tried to call him but his phone was off(which lsater on what disconnected). i proceeded to go to his house that following morning and he was nolonger there and neither was anything. As far as anyone knew to this day he had moved states. i couldnt afford to keep paying the credit card, and being young and dumb i let it go and it got defaulted. after a few years it had peaked(by the debt collectors) $18,000. in recnt years, now that i am at a more mature age, i have brought the credit down to $14,000, but this debt has stopped me from getting a car loan, getting a house loan, or even being able to take a holiday. all im asking for is some help. i dont like to ask for help, but im at a point that working 2 jobs and having no life and not being able to get anywhere where i want to be. i hope you understand that im not asking for a free handout, merely help so i can start from scratch and actually earn my way in life rather than spend the rest of my time paying a debt for my stupidity. Thank You.