Philippa Williamson has been awarded a Kiwibank Local Hero Medal for her charity work.

Mrs Williamson, 58, says she is not a person who likes to be thanked all the time, and described the award, which is part of the New Zealander of the Year Awards, as “quite out of the box for me”.

The Palmerston North widow has for 12 years served as administrator for New Hope Christian Ministries, which was established in 1985 by New Zealander Roger Dahlberg, who now lives in the Philippines. New Hope, which aims to care for the abused and abandoned children of Asia bulk-funds projects, including water wells; schools and micro enterprises in Vietnam, India, Cambodia and Bangladesh.

Mrs Williamson who volunteers 10 to 20 hours a week with New Hope, which to date has sponsored more than 4300 children recently returned from six months volunteering at Door of Hope Children’s Mission in Johannesburg, South Africa. She took leave from her two-day a week paid job as Crossroads Church administrator, and rented out her house to fund the trip.

Door of Hope provides a Christian home for abandoned, abused and orphaned babies and works with an adoption agency to find them permanent homes, some in South Africa, but also in Europe.

Mrs Williamson had always wanted to work in an orphanage and heard about Door of Hope through Jessica Hopkins of Bulls, who spent last year there. She says being a widow provided a “pocket of opportunity” for ministry.

“If it’s God’s will to be done that’s exactly what I want to be doing,” she explained.

“Even when my husband died, I never did have a pity party. All my life I’ve trusted God, and he has the best plan for me”.

Her husband Lindsay, a financial planner and accountant, died suddenly in 2005, aged 51, after 31 years of marriage.

Mrs Williamson, a mother-of-three, says her heart broke while she was at the mission and a baby named Oscar was found in a plastic bag next to a rubbish bin and another was found in a flower pot.

“How could someone do that to a brand new baby?” she asked. She says that kisses, cuddles, talking, singing and prayers were key parts of the care at the orphanage. When the babies leave they are “chubby, healthy and smiley”, she says.

Mrs Williamson’s strong Christian faith and belief that God sees each baby as precious motivated her while on the mission.

“We just know that God loves these wee babies. We are trying to be his hands and feet to help him out.”

By Aaron Ironside