Volunteers giving children the chance to smile.
Operation Restore Hope NZ is a not-for-profit, non-governmental, non-sectarian charity made up of volunteers from New Zealand and abroad. We provide surgical care for less fortunate children in the developing world with cleft lip and palate deformities.
Operation Restore Hope NZ is a New Zealand registered charitable trust and is separate from Operation Restore Hope Australia.
Our history
Operation Restore Hope was conceived in 1992 by Australian surgeon Dr Darryl Hodgkinson. Operation Restore Hope NZ sends volunteer teams from New Zealand and abroad on missions in the developing world, including the Philippines and, most recently, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Our mission
To correct cleft lips and palates, facial disfigurement and other deformities for those who, without donated services, would remain untreated and permanently disadvantaged.
Training local teams
Throughout every mission we teach and develop the skills of the local surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses who work alongside us, so care continues year-round.
A simple surgery that can transform a child’s life.
Screening
Health clinics spread the word through the year and promote the date and place of our screening day to families.
Surgery
Lip, palate and nose repairs, plus treatment for burns and hand deformities, over one intensive week.
Training
Hands-on teaching for local surgeons and anaesthetists during every mission. Much of the equipment is brought from home or donated.
One week, one team, a lifetime of difference.
Our missions typically last one week. Surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and helpers from New Zealand, Germany and the Philippines work 14-hour days alongside our partner, the ASK Foundation, and the staff of the host hospital.
Much of the operating room equipment we use is brought with us from home or donated, so every dollar goes further.
The children
Read their stories →
AliaLittle Alia came to us as a little toddler who wanted to sing. But Alia's deformities…
AnalynNine year old Analyn was referred through a local community health centre to Operation…
Angel ClearI am the mother of Angel Clear Saavedra, 3 years of age,who has been operated for 2…
CharleneCharlene is undoubtedly Operation Restore Hope's most complicated surgical case. Born…“The payoff for us comes when you can hand back to a parent a baby that two hours before had an unoperated cleft.”
Dr Tristan de Chalain · Paediatric & craniofacial surgeon
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