About Us

What we do

As an organisation, we aim to provide holistic help for individuals and communities. Consequently, our work incorporates meeting physical as well as intellectual, emotional and spiritual needs.

‘Ora’ is the Latin word for prayer and is also an acronym for ORA's key activities - Orphans, Refugees and Aid. For ORA New Zealand this meaning is extended further through the Maori definitions of ‘ora’ which are to be alive, well, safe, cured, recovered, healthy, fit or to survive. 

Our work focuses on three main areas:

Development work

For all our projects we always have one goal in mind – to help secure a sustainable future for those in need. The best method to reach this goal is helping people help themselves. Therefore, our strategies aim to achieve the best possible long-term effect for those we serve and this is why we focus on providing vocational training and support for income-generating projects. 

Sponsorship programmes

We believe that sponsorship programmes are the most direct, transparent and personal way of providing assistance. Sponsors always have the opportunity to follow the lives of the children they sponsor, to write to them, and even visit them. Through sponsorship, a child’s basic needs of food, clothing, health and schooling (including vocational training) are met, providing hope for a more positive future. It is our aim that all of this takes place within a context familiar to the child – within their own family, surroundings and culture. 

Emergency relief

In addition to implementing child sponsorship and community development programmes, ORA New Zealand spiritually and financially supports our ORA International partners as they provide fast relief to support the survival of those affected by war, hunger, sickness and natural catastrophes.

ORA New Zealand is a part of the wider ORA International family. We share common vision, mission and core values with the ORA Network of support offices in Austria, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal, and more than twenty project countries.

You can download a copy of ORA New Zealand's 2010 Annual Report here.