I learned about Little Dresses for Africa from Brian Williams' Making a Difference broadcast. (I have a crush on BriWi, but that's a whole different post)! Rachel O'Neil was touched by the little girls she met in an orphanage in Africa and wanted to do something to make them feel special. She knew the way to a little girl's heart is a pretty dress ! Her idea was to make simple dresses out of pillow cases and distribute them to children in need. Over 550,000 dresses have been distributed all over Africa as well as to Haiti, Mexico, Honduras and right here in the US as well.
I've been working on making some dresses to send. The whole process was fun - selecting pillowcases that would make a little girl happy, raiding my stash of trims to add some pizazz, and seeing 12 little dresses ready to ship out. Theses are easy to make and all the directions are on the website. Little boys need stuff, too and there are directions on the site for making shorts for them.
Here are my dresses - all ready to ship out!
Next time - shorts for the boys and dresses for bigger girls.
This is a fantastic idea, and your dresses are wonderful. I am a firm believer that we can make a difference in the world one person at a time. That doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't be part of organizations that work more swiftly and with the power of funding behind them, but sometimes it's an overwhelming thought, when we're just trying to get through the day ourselves.
ReplyDeleteYour action reminds us we can just "do it." Pick something that will make a difference, and make the difference - as you are doing, quite literally, as you make each dress.
I'm going to check out our "make a difference" link. There's a British gentleman I follow on Twitter (@jimallthetime) who is very big into following and promoting those who try, as individuals, to help others and make a difference in our world. One of the amazing gifts of social media - it's power to do "good."
Delighted to have found you through Tish!
I totally agree. Too often I've been guilty of inaction because I thought one person's action really couldn't make much of a difference. I was inspired by what this woman did and reminded of the Mother Teresa quote, "none of us can do great things on our own, but we can all do small things with great love".
DeleteThanks so much for stopping by and your insightful comment!
Great ministry, beautiful dresses. Thanks for sharing.
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