From cleaning rescue craft as a 12-year-old boy, Danie Verwey soon discovered a lifelong calling of saving lives at sea alongside an extraordinary crew.
Mossel Bay, South Africa (13 July 2026) – While some of us may need a minute to think back to what we were busy with at the age of 12, Danie Verwey remembers it like it was yesterday.
At that young age, he was introduced by a family friend and Class 1 Coxswain, Arno Cloete, to something bigger than himself: the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI).
From that moment on, Danie was ‘hooked’, visiting the NSRI Station 15 Mossel Bay regularly with his friends, where they helped with maintenance, cleaning rescue craft after training sessions and absorbing everything they could about sea rescue.
By the time he turned 16 in 2015 and was old enough to become an official volunteer, joining felt inevitable.
Not only did he gain a wealth of firsthand experience in sea rescue work, but Danie also found true friendship and his life’s purpose.
“There is a sense of belonging at a rescue station that is hard to describe to someone who hasn’t experienced it. You are part of something that genuinely matters, and that does something to you,” he tells NSRI.
Then there is also the reward of knowing that the work itself makes a real difference.
“The feeling of actually pulling someone from the water and knowing that they are going home to their family because of what your team did in that moment is indescribable,” he reflects.
Danie worked his way up the ranks, qualifying as a crew member before earning his Coxswain certifications, serving on the Mossel Bay station management committee, and eventually becoming Deputy Station Commander.
Related Stories
Saturday Good News Wrap Up: A Million Acts of Kindness and So Much to Celebrate!
Cape Town Kayakers Rescue Starving African Penguin Far Out to SeaOne of Danie’s most memorable recent deployments came during the severe flooding that affected parts of the Western Cape. He joined a rescue team assisting with evacuations in Wolseley and Gouda. Among the many rescues carried out during the operation, he and fellow rescuer Rian Basson were sent to find a missing family that had not been reached. They eventually found a mother, father and two young daughters, including a one-year-old child, stranded in difficult conditions.
“Getting them out was no straightforward task. The terrain was brutal, mud underfoot, hidden holes, fast-flowing water to cross, and the light fading fast,” Danie recounts.
Thankfully, the family was safely evacuated to the incident command post.
Today, Danie serves as an NSRI Regional Operations Manager, a role he believes was shaped by every position that came before it.
After more than a decade with NSRI, Danie considers the greatest reward of his line of work not to be a specific rescue or qualification, but the people. For this hero, it is the volunteers he has served alongside who have left a lasting impact on the person he has become.
As he puts it:
“Ordinary people doing extraordinary things, voluntarily, with no expectation of reward.”
From a young boy who began with cleaning rescue boats to the leader who now trains volunteers and heads rescue operations, Danie’s journey remarkably captures how a single decision to show up can change your life, and someone else’s.
Sources: NSRI
Don’t ever miss the Good Things. Download the Good Things Guy App now on Apple or Google.
Do you have something to add to this story? Please share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with good news as it happens, or share your good news with us by clicking here or click the link below to listen to the Good Things Guy Podcast with Brent Lindeque – South Africa’s very own Good Things Guy. He’s on a mission to change what the world pays attention to, and he truly believes there’s good news around us. In the Good Things Guy podcast, you’ll meet these everyday heroes and hear their incredible stories:
Or catch an episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque or our Weekly Top 5 below. The videos here are always changing, updated with the latest episodes from these two shows. Both are part of Good Things TV, created to bring South Africans balance at a time when the news can feel overwhelmingly negative. Our goal is simple: to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in our country – and to leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.
by 
