Mission Statement
Bright Hope World is a private, Christian based, humanitarian organization committed to developing partnerships with key people in developing countries to help them develop their communities. Challenged to act by our Christian faith, we partner with and serve key people as they attempt to implement the vision God has given them for their communities.
Bright Hope World works mainly through churches who understand their community and who can deliver holistic, unconditional compassion to all people, regardless of their gender, religion, race or ethnicity.
History | What do we do? | Staff | Uniqueness
Bright Hope World is a private, Christian based, humanitarian organization based in New Zealand. It has listed status with the New Zealand government.
It was started in the nineties by Rob and Heather Purdue in Christchurch. Rob was a businessman and specialised in financial management and property investment.
However, a trip to Fiji for a week to work with poor, tribal people changed his life. It stirred a passion for helping the less fortunate.
For 25 years Rob had helped with well known charities and got involved himself in cross-cultural mission work. But something wasn’t quite right. He watched with concern the increasing amount of money going into overheads and administration, the inappropriate delivery of aid and relief, the waste of resources, and the lack of real partnership. He made a decision to start something different.
Bright Hope World was launched in 1992 as a low cost, grass roots organisation based on partnerships with indigenous people living in the poorest areas of the world.
"Most of all we are here for the people who desperately need our help. We are unashamedly field driven. The needs of our partners come first. That is our core value as a mission" Rob Purdue
Today Bright Hope World is established in over 20 countries, directly impacting over 5,000 families, has over 3,000 orphaned and vulnerable children being cared for and educated and indirectly touches more than 40,000 people per year.
In order to fulfil our mission, Bright Hope World focuses on building partnerships with significant churches and Christian leaders so that relief can be delivered in the short and medium term while training, job creation and sustainable development can be implemented.
Our aim is to see lives changed and the poor empowered to be independent by concentrating on three key areas:
Christian Community And Leaders
Bright Hope World believes that community transformation requires holistic intervention. This will require responding to economic, educational, health and spiritual aspects of life. We understand that spiritual transformation is the major catalyst for change and are convinced that the local churches are the best agency for delivery of that change. Relationship with Jesus Christ and connection to the local church is the preferred context for sustainable, lifelong transformation. The establishment of churches in areas where there are none is one of our goals.
Relief In Crisis
Bright Hope World realises that often communities require short term relief to avert disaster before longer term solutions can be found. This could be a disaster like the Asian Tsunami, or more likely for BHW, it will be a broader crisis issue like poverty, health pandemic like HIV / AIDS or an oppressed minority group. At the local level this may result in food supplements, resource support for medical clinics and personnel, sponsoring of children to attend school, intervening in the life of a family or assisting an individual with specialized help.
Sustainable Development
Bright Hope World understands that it is vital for individuals and communities to be able to stand their own feet without external support. Although the entry point maybe through crisis, there is an obligation to assist with ongoing independence. This is most often delivered by attempting to assist local people to discover the answers that exist in their own communities, to identify those opportunities, to develop relevant strategies and then assist implementation by connection to relevant resources. This could see the establishment of training courses, access to micro-finance loans and funding for agriculture or small scale businesses, support and establishment of community schools or skills training centres, and the establishment of enterprises that create employment.
In order to implement our vision and mission Bright Hope World involves itself with partnerships and projects that provide one or more of the following:
Care and education for orphans and vulnerable children
Access to small scale loans for agriculture and small business
Incentives to develop agricultural production (micro-enterprise)
Support for key people and families
Subsidizing the training of emerging leaders
Support of community schools; teacher’s salaries, food supplements, resources
Providing appropriate technology for development; grinding mills, tools, solar panels etc.
Access to medical facilities and support of people living with HIV / AIDS
Equal opportunities to children and adults of both genders
Enhancement of the environment and sustainable development
Teaching Christian values and lifestyle – discipleship
Rob Purdue
International Director
Rob has been involved directly in charitable work among needy people around the world for over 20 years with an interest that precedes that for many years.
He is widely respected for encouraging only highly effective and accountable projects. Rob is regularly in the field maintaining close scrutiny of the work.
Rob has a background in financial planning and risk management. He left a successful national business to help establish Bright Hope. He is married to Heather and has two married children.
Owen & Doreen Jennings
La Mai Coffee
Owen has been involved in business and politics for many years. He brings experience and credibility with the corporate sector to the Bright Hope team.
They have four grown up children.
Jarrod Purdue
Income Generation
Jarrod trained as a teacher, and after graduation taught maths and physical education in New Zealand
schools for three years, but then headed to Africa where he spent a year helping aid and mission groups.
Richer for the experience, he moved to London where he worked for 12 months as a teacher and then as a
site manager for the next seven months.
Now back in New Zealand with his wife and three children, he is primarily involved with income generation for
Bright Hope World through property development.
Ross Gilray
Income Generation
For nine years, Ross worked as a police officer, in Christchurch. Although happy in his work, he realized
he could generate a personal income by developing property instead of working on the beat.
In the middle of 2006 Ross resigned from the police force and is now a professional property developer,
earning both a living for his family and generating an innovative income stream for Bright Hope World
partners.
Heather McLennan
Office Administrator
Heather joined the Bright Hope World team in March 2008 having previously worked in an administration
capacity in the medical industry for the last 20 years.
Heather has always had an interest in overseas missions and in July 2007 visited Zambia for two weeks with
a team from Riccarton Community Church in association with Bright Hope World. This gave her valuable
insight into the work of BHW and so when the opportunity became available she was very
keen to be able to use her skills/abilities to enhance the work of Bright Hope.
Margaret Daniel
Office Administrator
Margaret has worked with the Bright Hope World team since April 2001 handling the clerical and accounts work. She and her
husband worked in Northern Spain for seven years involved in evangelism and discipleship, and have a keen
interest in overseas missions.
Margaret is married to Carl and they have two teenage children.
Janet Blythe
La Mai Coffee
Janet joined the Bright Hope World team in early 2008 to assist with the distribution of La Mai coffee. She comes in
three days a week and handles all the coffee orders, invoicing and packaging.
Janet is married to Wayne and has three adult children.
Field Staff
Kevin & Helen Honore
Field Directors
Kevin and Helen have lived and worked in Africa for many years and have a first hand understanding of the
needs of indigenous people. Their role sees them visiting all BHW partnerships from time to time.
They previously managed the family's fruit growing and processing business in Levin and have experience in
setting up and maintaining projects. They are based in Auckland and have two adult children.
John & Cisca Vlaming
Agricultural Directors
John and Cisca are farmers from Nelson, New Zealand. In December 2007 they went to BHW’s Maplehurst Farm
(ZAM21) in Zambia to manage the farm for nine months.
As BHW’s agricultural directors they are involved in overseeing and developing not only Maplehurst Farm
but also other BHW farming projects in Africa and Asia. They are based in New Zealand but make regular
visits to these partnerships.
Jerry & Hayley Field
Micro-enterprise / Training
Jerry and Hayley have been involved in Bright Hope World for a number of years. In June 2009 they are
returning to live in Zambia, based at Maplehurst Farm. Their role is to oversee all of BHW’s Zambia
partnerships, introducing micro-enterprise / kitchen gardens into partnerships where appropriate, developing
training programmes and resources for partners and beneficiaries and establishing model plots for learning
at Maplehurst Farm. (See ZAM28)
Aaron & Suzy Boddy
Maplehurst Farm
Since the end of 2006 Aaron and Suzy have been living and working at Maplehurst Farm in Zambia (ZAM21).
Aaron is the base manager there and Suzy is in charge of the financial operations. They come from
Christchurch, New Zealand and have three young children, Max, Toby and Katie.
Carl Daniel
Partnership Facilitator – South America
Carl is Bright Hope World's South America Director developing projects and partners. He worked in Spain for seven
years, and this has enabled him to represent Bright Hope in South America.
Carl currently works as an aircraft engineer for Air New Zealand. He is married to
Bright Hope's office administrator, Margaret, and has two children.
Jude Goatley
Partnership Facilitator
Jude has professional qualifications in early childhood training and accounting. Since 2000 Jude has been living
in Africa, facilitating, developing and auditing Bright Hope World partnerships. In 2008 she had a year sabbatical
and spent this year studying in Kenya. Jude is currently back in New Zealand.
Worku Tafete
Partnership Facilitator – Ethiopia
Worku left Ethiopia more than 20 years ago as a refugee. He eventually found a home in New Zealand and has subsequently become a church leader here.
He has a passion for the people of Northern Ethiopia and has introduced Bright Hope World to opportunities
there. Worku lives with his sisters in Auckland.
Len and Mary Savill
Partnership Facilitator – Philippines
Len and Mary were missionaries in the Philippines for about 20 years. During that time they were
involved in setting up a church planting ministry and have introduced Bright Hope World to many of those
people they worked with and trained.
They live in Cambridge, New Zealand and work with HEADSPACE, a Christian youth gap year programme. They
try to visit the Philippines each year to encourage our partners there.
Bright Hope World believes that the most effective and efficient way to have a real impact on communities and individuals in the Developing World is to do so in partnership with key people in those communities.
Bright Hope World does not go into communities and decide where we are going to start a project. Instead we find indigenous people and churches with a real passion for their own people and who are already making a real difference in the lives of people. They are the ones with whom we form partnerships to assist and support their own vision and strategies. These people are the most "valuable asset" within the Bright Hope World family. It is possible to support 25 - 30 indigenous families for the same amount it would cost to send and support a family from the West.
Partnership with local people is a major reason why Bright Hope World is so cost effective and can have such a wide global impact on such a small budget.
Bright Hope World is also cost effective because of its attitude towards administration costs. We have a small efficient team made up of volunteers and staff that are all self-supported or self funded.
No donations given to Bright Hope World are used to pay staff and we actively try to raise funds independently to pay for other administration costs.
Our aim is for 100% of all funds given to Bright Hope World go directly to the field. At the moment at least 90% of donations go directly to our partners and in many cases is up to 100%.
Bright Hope World is committed to making a real impact in the lives of the poorest of the poor and to do it as cost effectively as possible.
Factors that distinguish Bright Hope World:
focus on discipleship and training – church based
strict accountability in terms of outcomes and lifestyle
strong relationship with the business sector
strong partnership focus
grass roots focus
respect for local culture and customs
commitment to orphaned and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS pandemic
creation of independence and sustainable development
field driven
committed to no or very low administration costs
low overheads
willingness to connect the Western partner with the beneficiary – in the context of agreed parameters
