dreamcatcher logo

Dreamcatcher has been working inclusively in communities locally in South Africa, yet building partnerships world wide, to remove barriers to economic -and skills empowerment and improved quality of life and we specifically focus on women, children and youth (yet not exclusively). Providing opportunities and addressing barriers to improve quality of life, our goal is to leave no one behind and a chance to develop to their full potential. We consistently measure and monitor our impact and proud of our achievements. Working closely as a committed group with the people in communities, we get things done. We don’t give up and we view challenges as opportunities to innovate!

The name Dreamcatcher is a legally registered brand and trade mark. This name (“Droomvanger” – The Dreamcatcher) was bestowed on our founder by the dying patriarch of an impoverished community where she made a significant difference. Anthea still volunteers to this day.

Our aim is to eliminate barriers and develop opportunities to offer a “leg up” to self-sustenance and dignity, as opposed to a “hand out” approach. We live and work in the communities among the people where we “walk the talking”. We are serious about accountability; do not work arms-length but rather in the communities, monitoring our progress each day.

Our established Home Office in South Africa is in Melkhoutfontein, Stilbaai along the Garden Route, Eden a few hours drive from Cape Town. We have projects and Kamamma’s in 20 communities in 6 provinces in South Africa. We are supported by offices in the UK and Netherlands and have an ambassador for Dreamcatcher in the USA. These friends of Dreamcatcher help us to raise awareness, funds, resources, volunteers and visitors who want an authentic taste of reality with the people.

Our work is geared to facilitate an end to poverty without end. We believe in a grass root approach: empowering the women and their children who are the future and will decide the tomorrows. We aim to develop enactors and service providers, instead of consumers and servants. Carefully developed and mentored women we call “Kamammas”, work with us to contribute and build in their communities. Volunteers join us to develop self-sufficiency and a sustainable living.

To foster universal and intra-cultural harmony, we actively encourage patience, self worth and the confidence to move ahead and excel in spite of the disadvantages or hardship the Kamammas and children live in.

Through sport, we transcend children from their small, cramped homes to freedom of movement, develop a team spirit, self worth and compassion to look out for each other: growing a strong body and mind.

We assist women to develop skills to own and run small tourism -and peripheral enterprises, offering accommodation and mouth watering local food, to visitors to their communities. It is un-staged life as lived. Dreamcatchers’ authentic taste of reality. We make it possible for visitors to immerse themselves in the diverse and vibrant cultures they meet when they volunteer or choose to travel on our specially designed routes. In this we believe, lies the key to the “better life and future” for the people and their environment

Put frankly: Dreamcatcher is proudly making Nelson Mandela’s dream of “a better life for all his people”, work. It’s possible. Help us lead the way!

Other Dreamcatcher organisations

ALAAPii

ALAAPii is collaborating with DREAMCATCHER SOUTH AFRICA npc  and drawing on the expertise, skills, knowledge of the award winning social change enabler. Anthea Rossouw is the globally recognised founder of both these initiatives. We believe it is time to take Dreamcatcher internationally in collaboration with our local partners, based on the clear findings that the vulnerable, struggling communities, living in abject poverty have been most affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic. 

ALAAPii’s goal is to sell tours to the destinations that were developed by Dreamcatcher. These local communities have seen significant socio-economical growth and are environmentally friendly destinations. The organization does not just say, write, hypothesise and postulate about ‘sustainable development’, but we transform tourism. This benefits local communities in tourists destinations across Africa. Working together we aim to unlock, with every tourist and visitor,  the dreams and aspirations of the people of Africa. ALAAPii is our coined acronym based around the following words: As Locally African As Possible Inspired Internationally. 

Dreamcatcher Netherland

Besides the organisation in South Africa, Dreamcatcher also has an organisations in the Netherlands.

Our founder, Anthea (known as Dreamcatcher), recognized the opportunities inherit in tourism, to stimulate socio-economic growth in local communities over 3 decades ago. Dreamcatcher’s goal was to disrupt mainstream tourism itineraries to offer a more authentic experience affirming and celebrating the rich cultural and geographic diversity of the country. Her dream was to transform the tourism industry creating a new generation of enterprises offering experiences inclusive of humanity, sharing the benefits of tourism for the greater good of society. Simultaneously this would address over tourism to the same few attractions that left most of South Africa’s incredible beauty and cultures undiscovered.


Anthea controversially introduced the concept of tourism enterprise in township communities in 1988 and set up Dreamcatcher in 1991. It was her vision to develop a network of women-led tourism enterprises providing engaging and authentic tourism services. Her ‘Kamamma’ philosophy (mother who carries her child/community on her back), embraces the 3 pillars of sustainability embedding social, economic and environmental integrity. As custodians for culture and the environment, enterprises support the wider community through job creation, and projects addressing local challenges.


A lack of support from the South African mainstream tourism industry, resulted in Anthea, accompanied by local Kamammas, to reach out to the international tourism marketplace to promote the new Dreamcatcher inclusive itineraries. Today a growing number of discerning visitors seek immersive encounters with local people where the social and financial benefits of tourism reach communities.

Offering visitors fun and insightful experiences in local communities, we are the founder of authentic community-based tourism in South Africa. We enable discerning visitors to discover those amazing people living in areas and destinations most visitors on mainstream tours miss out completely. Our comprehensive range of bespoke travel route itineraries integrate these local experiences.

Dreamcatcher South Africa

Dreamcatcher South Africa NPC, Registration Number: 2019/142532/08 constitutes an appropriate duly registered legal body in the form of a Non-Profit company issued by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission of South Africa in accordance with section (14) of the Companies Act 2008.

Dreamcatcher’s work is based on an outcomes based, community driven, inclusive projects. We are committed to empower sustainable development to enable local people to help themselves out of the poverty trap, to bring lasting dignity, by knowledge and skills transfer on a range of issues, which affects daily quality of life and dignity and which inhibits sustainable growth. We believe that investing in the people, who are the custodians of the land, secures the future of everyone and everything in it.

Our focus is predominantly, yet not exclusively on women, girls and youth and our projects to give significant attention to sustainable futures of projects and services. We focus predominantly on working in the following development areas which also benefit form responsible consumption in the service supply chain. Our ethos is to “walk the talking’ and get things done and we aspire to local collaboration among stakeholders in the eco-supply chain which includes Local, Provincial and National Governments, trainers and enablers. We focus on the following service development opportunities for local enterprise growth:

  1. Tourism services provided and run by local enterprises;
  2. Environmental re-development, re-generation and sustainable project management;
  3. Management of – and re-use of waste;
  4. Creative arts and craft enterprise development;
  5. Knowledge transfer, training and skills transfer purposed to empower responsible, accountable and professional service providers;
  6. Health and wellbeing;
  7. North – South Collaboration with organisations and institutions, to realise the UN2030 Sustainable Development Goals which Dreamcatcher as been actively pursuing to deliver on since inception of the UNMillennium Goals in 2000.
  8. Through research and innovation, we develop solutions to challenges, by turning them into opportunities and sustainable solutions and we maximise investment through pioneering and innovation, to develop duplicable models to contribute to local, national and global challenges.

Dreamcatcher is humbled and honoured to have been awarded a number of accolades and nominations in recognition of the results achieved, ground breaking new models and initiatives in social engagement and development. With this said, awards are not what we seek – yet they make us proud and motivate us to stretch further and beyond to find ways which work to improve life in struggling communities, intra-cultural harmony, wellness, happiness, sustainably.

Deliberately and with vigour we contribute to make Nelson Mandela, and those who struggled for political freedom, to work  to enable economic freedom through decent work and business opportunities. That’s us! Welcome 🙂

The Dreamcatcher Foundation South Africa Board

The Dreamcatcher Board of Directors are a dedicated group. Each board member, carefully nominated in terms of commitment and  knowledge, to bring their passion and skills to the table in a most enabling manner. They are also nominated in terms of their contact and standing in their local communities. Since people IN communities are the focus of what we do, we view it as vital that board directors are active and that they engage in their communities gainfully. Thus Dreamcatcher South Africa is proud of  the  Board we need to enable the goals of our founding constitution.

This year we have lost stalwarts in terms of Board Members and also Matriarchal Kamammas whose remit is to “look around and back to take your community along with you”. We also work closely with our awareness and fund/support seeking sister organisations in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and we are proud of our alliances with Organisations such as there Utopia Foundation in the USA, The British Council UK and scores of donors and contributors.

Introducing the board members

Anthea Rossouw: Dreamcatcher Founder Portfolio: Board Executive, Stakeholder Engagement & Sustainable Tourism Destination Development Specialist & Programmes Leader

Andelene Aghulhas-Damons: Retired Nurse
Portfolio: Wellness, Visitor Host & Event Support

Mr Karel Lietz – Qualified Electrician & Avid Gardener
Portfolio: Maintenance of Power & Electrical Systems & Garden Maintenance

Elmordine Saayman
Portfolio: Youth Development, Hospitality and Crafting Coordination

Read more

Anthea Rossouw founded Dreamcatcher over 3 decades ago from humble beginnings, in a then Apartheid dominated and racially divided South Africa. She was named ‘The Dreamcatcher’, by the dying patriarch Moses Kleinhans, who lived in the community of Melkhoutfontein, Stilbaai: in recognition of her commitment and dedication, in spite of facing enormous odds, to spearhead a socio-economic transformation, which changed the lives of many individuals in his community. Anthea has worked as an unpaid volunteer to realise the “community dream” for over 30 years. She is revered by the local communities across the land. This name of “Dreamcatcher” ( Moses’ Droomvanger) is today a legally registered brand.

The ethos of Dreamcatcher is simple: To achieve our goals, we are not challenged by the challenges around us in South Africa or any community where we help to enable improved quality of life for the people and the environment in which they live. To the contrary we prospect for the challenges and use them as the SOLUTIONS for CHANGE. Therefore, we develop initiatives and facilitate opportunities to communities to become entrepreneurs and create jobs where they live, by putting tourism to work for the people, whilst simultaneously addressing the barriers and circumstances, which inhibit sustainable growth and development in the communities. Barriers to growth and improved wellness and quality of life are breached and eliminated. We aim to put an end to aid without end by facilitating lasting and outcomes based results.

Working in close partnership with the community, we walk the talk at Dreamcatcher and we place specific emphasis on the roll women can play to rebuild their own lives and that of the communities they live in. Children living in these communities are part of our focus group and are involved in many initiatives throughout the year. Enabling the youth, the leaders of tomorrow with a reason to get up in the morning to look forward to and work towards their potential and purpose, is a major focus to ensure sustainable outcomes for all our projects. Our flagship projects which enable visitors from around the world to “Go truly Local’ with us to engage and share knowledge and experience life as lived in communities across South and Southern Africa, is a globally recognised important trend among visitors: to dedicate part of their travels to a country to ensure that local communities’ benefit from their patronage and their mutual contact. We are deeply grateful for each and every visitor who comes to South Africa or locals who travels to us to contribute to achieving our goals, which are carefully developed after in-depth consultations with the local communities.

Dreamcatcher strives to facilitate harmony in diversity, mutual respect and universal understanding between cultures in South Africa and to transcend these values into international outreach programs. We thus think globally but act locally as we reach out to partners to join us to make a tangible and evident difference. We subscribe to -and have been guided by the 8 Millennium goals in our outcomes based, solution focused initiatives and have continued to build on these goals, since they were formulated in the year 2000.We are proud that when the UN2030 Goals were announced, Dreamcatcher could participate in forums in Washington to share knowledge and forge partnership globally to realise the goals.

As non-profit, we make sure that every project we tackle with the communities, equate to at least treble the value from donors and as visitors and communities grow together, the impact on human resource and quality of life is clear for everyone involved to assess, experience and be part. Any funds left after paying the entrepreneurs who own their own tourism businesses, are ploughed directly into sustaining what we put into place. Grants and donations to our organization are channelled directly into the projects to ensure maximum end result for which it was intended.