Good Hope Volunteers

In 1994, Wolfgang Graser and Alexander Kratochwil moved from their home in Vienna to the beautiful city of Cape Town. They quickly fell in love with this vibrant city and its friendly, smiling people. They first opened an English language school for foreign tourists to learn English, but soon they discovered that behind the shiny places there are enormous problems and challenges that this country faces for historic reasons. They met with organisations that assist government in the struggle for a better life and a better environment.

When you see what these organisations do, it’s not difficult to feel moved and share in their desire to help. They can’t solve all problems overnight, but they do make an impact and do change people’s lives on a daily basis. What they need, though, are volunteers who share their passion to help and who want to make a difference.

In 2009 we started to supply some of these organisations with international volunteers. What we specifically loved was not only to seeing these organisations thrive with the volunteers, but also noticing how the volunteers themselves benefit hugely from the experience.

In 2016, Vanessa Cloete joined us to develop Good Hope Volunteers into a larger and more professional organisation. She holds an undergraduate degree in Marine Biology and a postgraduate degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of Cape Town. With her passion for communities, animals and the environment, she developed Good Hope Volunteers to a top service provider in this field.

It is the love for South Africa and the international travellers that pushes us daily to provide the best possible meaningful experience to the volunteers, but also to support our projects with what they need to do their jobs and to grow into a brighter future.

Today we support around 20 projects in southern Africa.