About Us

"It’s taken a few lifetimes for some of these individual handcrafted items to find their way to us here in New Zealand. Each item tells its own story, its journey to help individuals, orphans, widows and entire communities.” – Sue van Schreven, Founder, Orphans Aid International

The collection started from humble beginnings on a trip to Nepal in 2008. Orphans Aid Founder, Sue van Schreven, returned to New Zealand with some Nepalese fair trade bags to sell as a fundraiser. They sold out quickly, so she ordered more items, slippers, pashminas, scarves purchased directly from contacts in Kathmandu.

At the same time, beautiful women in Kolkata were making greeting cards for us from recycled paper and straw as a way of being free from the brothels.

Trips to our orphanage projects in the Northern hemisphere saw us return with Russian dolls made locally and beautifully hand painted. They sold like wild-fire.

As the years have gone by we’ve had amazing encounters with warm-hearted people who, quite simply, just want to help. The “Angels for Orphans” is now in its 4th year and a 100% fundraiser. It’s a creative initiative from Michelle at Old Mill Road. These angels alone have provided hundreds of Christmas meals to children who otherwise would not even know it was Christmas.

So our collection of ethically sourced goods has continued to grow. We’ve decided to be fussy, to be strong about who we purchase from and how we go about this.

We want to make sure we are building communities, not causing division or strife amongst suppliers or taking advantage of those in dire need. Ours is a story of enabling and giving a hand up.

We’re about long term change and preventing children from being abandoned due to poverty.