Empowering the most vulnerable children and communities to give them hope for the future.

Our Story

ORA New Zealand and Hope St have merged to form a new, effective and authentic brand. We are still the same people with the same passion and drive. We are a child focused international development and relief organisation, serving children and communities living in extreme poverty. Founded in 1980, we have been working in aid and development for nearly four decades.

ORA International was founded in Germany in 1980 and in 1999 an office was opened in New Zealand. Hope Street was founded in 2012 to fund the anti-trafficking arm of ORA New Zealand’s work. ORA New Zealand and Hope Street were supporting the same international partners and shared similar missions and values, so in 2019 our two organisations merged to have a greater impact in the communities where we work.

Our work

Uganda Child Sponsorship Programme

The team in Uganda run a rural child sponsorship programme which supports 160 children from impoverished families. Each child receives education and after-school tuition, basic health care, counselling, agricultural training, and access to extracurricular activities. The programme has a strong emphasis on life skills to raise capable and contributing community members. We have sponsored graduates who are teachers, nurses, engineers, builders, mothers, medical students, and even some who now sponsor local children themselves. While the majority of sponsored children live with extended family, the programme runs residential care homes to provide accommodation for those who are most vulnerable.

  Rural Communities Programme

The Rural Communities Programme is focused on improving the livelihood of impoverished families living in rural Uganda. Initiatives include microfinance groups equipping struggling mothers to establish income sources, agricultural projects providing families with additional income, a children’s resource library, electricity installation, and clean water projects in communities with no safe water supply. The team work closely with local schools, vocational training institutes and community leaders to implement these projects.

  Street Children’s Programme

There are an estimated 200,000 street children in Uganda, a statistic that worsens each year.1 The Street Children’s Programme works with those most at risk of being abused or trafficked. The local team provide on-street mentoring and are often able to repatriate children back to their extended families. The children who are most vulnerable and have no family support are offered a place in our safe home. There they receive education, health care, mentoring, tailoring training and life-skills.

  1. 1. United Nations Children's Fund (2014). Child Poverty and Deprivation in Uganda.

Moldova MGA Agricultural Programme

Currently the poorest country in Europe1, Moldova is experiencing chronic poverty caused by high rates of unemployment, alcoholism and population decline. We support an agricultural project growing grain crops on 400ha of land. The project provides employment for local villagers and a sustainable, local income source for other social programmes.

  1. 1. Trading Economics (2018). GDP per capita PPP, Europe.

  Ungheni Programme

A former Soviet Republic, Moldova was once known for its agricultural production as the breadbasket of the USSR. Today Moldova is the poorest country in Europe.1 It is a source country for victims of human trafficking, most of whom are taken as sex workers to the Middle East.2 The Ungheni programme works with children and youth at risk of being trafficked. The team run holiday programmes, after school activities and provide children with educational materials.

  1. 1. Trading Economics (2018). GDP per capita PPP, Europe.
  2. 2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2017). Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Bulgaria LOGOS Programme

Bulgaria has more reported cases of human trafficking victimisation than any other country in Eastern Europe.1, 2 The LOGOS team run training schools and anti-trafficking education in Bulgaria. Additionally, they provide practical support for refugees and orphans by providing for basic needs and assisting with integration into society.

  1. 1. United States Department of State (2018). Trafficking in Persons Report, Bulgaria.
  2. 2. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2017). Global Report on Trafficking in Persons, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Kenya Chafisi Programme

The Chafisi team work to educate and empower Kenya’s destitute children and their families. A child sponsorship programme provides education and basic needs for children who would otherwise be illiterate. Those sponsored children who live far from schools are offered accommodation in a boarding house on the Chafisi campus.

Hope St. is currently supporting the Chafisi Programme, as they aim for self-sustainability, through the recent purchase and development of agricultural land as a local income source.

Myanmar Living Waters Programme

Myanmar’s Shan State is the world’s second largest producer of illicit opium1 and has been a significant cog in the transnational drug trade since World War II. The prevalence of opium trading has caused an over-proportion of drug addicts and family dysfunction. One in every three young boys is given to the ethnic army2 and many young girls are sold in to prostitution in China and Thailand. 

Living Waters is a children’s home which provides education and a safe, loving environment for children at risk of being trafficked or exploited. The home focuses on children from illiterate and drug-addicted families. The team also run medical clinics in regions with no access to healthcare or pharmaceuticals.

  1. 1. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2013). Opium Cultivation Rising in Burma.
  2. 2. James, Helen (2012). Security and Sustainable Development in Myanmar/Burma.

Emergency Projects Covid-19

We at Hope St are working with our local partners in Uganda, Kenya and Myanmar to implement emergency Covid-19 projects to stop the spread of Covid-19. These communities are extremely vulnerable to this pandemic as most live in areas with limited health services, and in crowded housing with an inability to isolate. They are at higher long term risk due to economic changes which will see a spike in poverty, increasing the risk children face; risks such as community violence, increased hunger, and a further reduction in access to education and healthcare. Read more about our Covid-19 work here.

Our Approach

  1. Partner with like-minded locals who share our heart, vision and values.
  2. Equip local partners to transform their communities by providing training, resource, support and accountability.
  3. Future-proof initiatives to ensure long-term sustainability.

Aaron, Uganda

Aaron* was only 11 when he became a street child. His brother and sister were both killed on the street. Aaron tells his own story…

My life changed when Dad started drinking. Once he beat Mum so badly she almost died, she left us after that. Not long later my siblings left too and escaped Dad’s beatings. If I’d known where to go I would have left as well.

When I was ten Dad abandoned me. Occasionally the neighbours fed me but most of the time I was hungry and had to steal. One day they caught me and I was forced to leave the village; if I’d tried to stay they would have killed me.

I lived on the streets for two years, hunger was part of our daily lives there. I often stole food from market stalls but I never did big burglaries or pick pocketed. Those things scared me; if you are caught you can be killed. I’m not a thief by nature. I was stealing to survive.

When I was thirteen I came to live at Hope St. I’m in school now and when I finish I want to be a welder, then I’ll be able to provide for my family and maybe I can even help street children. I’m so grateful that I’m not living on the street anymore.

*Name changed for privacy purposes.

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Tessa, Uganda

Tessa was abandoned multiple times by her mother and largely ignored by her alcoholic father. The most attention she received was in times of abuse. Her earliest memories those of regular beatings. Tessa was forced to help her father harvest drugs. If she refused, the violence escalated. One day Tessa was lying on the ground attempting to recover from a severe beating when her father hit her head with a machete. The scar will be with her forever.

Tessa was sent to live with her grandparents, a new village and a change of scenery. But the violence and abuse didn’t change. Her grandmother would get drunk on a regular basis and beat her. There was little food and no money for Tessa to attend school.

Tessa began to harvest grass in the bush, making brooms and carrying them to town to sell for food. She met other young street children. They would play in the dirt and forage for food together. One day a group of unknown adults approached Tessa and she went with them to their home. Fortunately for Tessa, these people were Hope Foundation social workers. Tessa’s rescue highlights how easily vulnerable child can be taken in by traffickers.

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