Project Description

Gap Year Internships in South Africa

Add structure to your Gap Year and participate in a Gap Year internship in Cape Town, South Africa, the most beautiful city in the world. Gain relevant and professional experience in your chosen field and be forever changed by the cultural and experiential learning opportunities afforded to you by our city and its people.

Why do a Gap Year Internship in Cape Town with VACorps?

A Gap Year Internship offers you relevant work experience and cultural immersion in the beautiful, vibrant, and diverse city of Cape Town, South Africa. During your internship, you will get to preview a career what you want (or may not want) to study in college/university. You will experience meaningful social engagement and be exposed to cultural norms and a way of life that is profoundly different from what you know back in your home country. Be prepared to expand your comfort zones, gain independence and embark on a journey of self-discovery.

VACorps has been hosting international interns in Cape Town since 2007.  We have a highly trained and experienced staff on the ground whose purpose is to support you during your stay in Cape Town. Although you will ultimately be responsible for making the most of your internship and Gap year experience in Cape Town, our staff will be there to help you familiarise and integrate into the Cape Town way of life, and will help you feel confident and oriented in your new home.

We recommend this program for the following profile of student:

The VACorps Gap Year Internship Program is better suited for a more mature and independent Gap Year traveler.  You will live with other VACorps program participants and have complete freedom over your schedule and time outside of your internship hours. Although we will be checking in on you regularly, this is not a chaperoned program.

If you are considering VACorps as part of your gap year, we recommend that you join our program either in September or January. Many of our gap year participants choose to arrive in Cape Town during Session 1 (Jan-April) after having previously completed a more structured program in the fall. Participants of VACorps receive a great deal of personal independence and must be self-directed and responsible with time management (e.g., your internship site will expect you to arrive on time every morning).

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Meet Past Participants:

Avital Strauss, Illinois, USA (2023)

Avital joined the VACorps PRogram as part of her Gap Year in January 2023 and participated in an internship at an NGO that supports and serves underprivileged communities in one of Cape Town's townships.  [...]

William Monkarsh, California, USA (2023)

Will joined the VACorps Program in January 2023, as part of his GAP year, and participated in an internship at an eco-tourism company in Cape Town.  "My experience with VAC has definitely been life-changing. [...]

Dylan DeRosa, New York, USA (2023)

Dylan joined the VACorps program in January 2023 as part of his Gap Year and participated in a human rights law internship.  "Cape Town and the VACorps have provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and experience [...]

Sam Brabeck, Massachusetts, USA (2023)

Sam joined the VACorps program in January 2023 and participated in a public health and counseling internship at an NGO that supports mothers and children.  "I didn't know what to expect before leaving for [...]

Alena Powell, New Jersey, USA (2023)

Alena joined the VACorps program n January 2023 as part of her Gap year and participated in a journalism internship at a local radio station.  "During my gap year with VACorps in Cape Town, [...]

Carson Ireland-Latimer

Carson joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 as part of his Gap year and participated in an internship at a bike shop.  "Interning in Cape Town was such a great experience! The city [...]

Chris Doe, Massachussets, USA (2023)

Chris joined the VACorps program in January 2023 as part of his Gap year and participated in a human rights internship.  I decided to come to Cape Town to do an internship because I [...]

Nico Theunissen, New York, USA (2023)

Nico joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 as part of his Gap year and participated in an internship at a clean energy engineering company.  "Living in New York City, coming to Cape Town [...]

Isabelle Ryan, Illinois, USA (2023)

Isabelle joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 as part of her Gap year and participated in a business internship.  "Originally, I was nervous about coming to Cape Town. I had never been so [...]

Spencer Meyers, New York, USA (2023)

Spencer joined the VACorps Program as part of his Gap Year and participated in a media internship at a local television station.  "My experience with VACorps in Cape Town has been nothing short of [...]

Pallavi Bhargava, Maryland, USA (2023)

Pallavi joined the VACorps Program as part of her Gap Year and participated in a human rights internship.  "The last 2.5 months in Cape Town have been some of the best of my life! [...]

Jonah Lieberman, Massachusetts, USA (2023)

Jonah joined the VACorps Program in January 2023 and participated in a journalism internship at a local radio station.  "I chose VACorps because I wanted to travel somewhere far and very different and live [...]

Coco Israel, California, USA (2023)

Coco joined the Vacorps Program in January 2023 as part of her Gap year and participated in an architecture internship.  "VACorps was an amazing program. I am so grateful for this experience. It provided [...]

Ella Edwards, Washington, USA (2022)

Ella joined the VACorps program in September 2022 as part of her GAP year. She participated in a medical and sustainability internship.  "I chose to come to Cape Town because it is the city [...]

Zach Kahn, Massachusetts, USA (2022)

Zach joined the VACorps program in May 2022 as part of his GAP year and participated in a media internship at a local TV station.  "I chose Cape Town as a destination because I [...]

Drue Kendall, New Jersey, USA (2022)

Drue (pictured second from the left) joined the VACorps program in May 2022 as part of his GAP year and participated in an internship at a primary school for children with disabilities.  "I chose [...]

Hannah Choe, New Jersey, USA (2022)

Hannah joined the VACorps Program in January 2022 as part of her GAP year and participated in an education internship at a local school. "I chose Cape Town to be my home for three [...]

Scott Beames, California, USA (2022)

Scott joined the VACorps Program in March 2022 as part of his GAP year and participated in an education internship at a local school.  "I chose to come to Cape Town because of the [...]

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