Little Dresses for Africa Little Dresses for Africa is a non-profit, Christian-based organization which provides relief to the children of Africa. To date, the group has received dresses and donations from 49 states across the USA and received over 50,000 little dresses that have been distributed in 13 countries in Africa. For more information, go to littledressesforafrica.org. By Katie McGurl Staff writer Updated: July 21, 2010 3:27 p.m. This summer, Veronica Fay, a rising senior at Richmond Hill High School, has sewn 60 children’s dresses for charity. She just learned to sew in late May. For years, Veronica’s mother, Naomi Fay, had been trying to pass down the useful skill – one which her own mother had taught her as a girl. Veronica’s interest was finally sparked two months ago, when she learned about Little Dresses for Africa, a program which distributes dresses to needy young girls in remote African villages. “The project was really the push,” said Veronica. “Upon hearing about the project, it was kind of like: ‘How could you not get involved?’ These little girls were orphaned mostly because of the AIDS epidemic. Many of them had siblings and had to take care of them … so (for them) it was growing up sooner than you have to. On top of that, they didn’t have clothing. They didn’t have a single article, and I can’t imagine not having clothes. You couldn’t just hear the story and not do something.” Naomi, a skilled dressmaker herself, gathered up patterns and fabric from her supply, and the two embarked on their mission. Veronica learned with her mother’s guidance, working step-by-step on a few dresses at a time. Finished dresses were bagged by size and added to a huge box for shipment. Veronica will continue sewing the garments through August. “We’re not sure if we’re going to push for 100 dresses or make boy shorts, because there are little boys that don’t have clothes, either,” she said. For the young bluegrass fiddler, creating the dresses for African children has been a “neat tribute to the family.” Her great-grandfather lived and worked in Africa as a translator for visiting British royalty. Volunteerism has been a part of Veronica’s life since the age of four. Since then, she’s participated in beach and river cleanups, helped to build oyster reefs, fundraised for Relay for Life, and even created the Joye Johnson Memorial Butterfly Garden at Carver Elementary School. She’s passionate about her current work for Little Dresses for Africa. “Every time I complete a dress, it’s a feeling of self-accomplishment … I’m glad that I can help them and provide some little relief. I know my dresses aren’t going to help heal them, but I know they help a little bit.”
Thanks to Gail Moss for sharing the pictures of her little dresses sewing workshop. Great article in the Charlotte Observer!
Marilyn Will, 74 and Helen Lilley, 89, sew for the children
Marilyn Will, 74, left, shows Helen Lilley, 89, how to put the finishing touches on a child’s dress during a meeting of the Little Dresses for Africa group at Touchmark Retirement on Tuesday.
Photos by Andy Tullis / The Bulletin
Though many of them have not sewn for years, members of the Little Dresses for Africa group have sewn more than 20 dresses to be sent to Africa. Most of the seamstresses are retirees living at Touchmark Retirement in Bend. The group has met regularly in the center’s arts and crafts room. Each dress is made with less than a yard of material, and some of the residents have gotten creative about where that material comes from. Jean Dillard, 91, wrote in an e-mail that she used two table runners that her daughter had embroidered to make one dress. “I made the cutest little dress for a 3-year-old to wear in Africa that you ever have seen,” Dillard wrote. The group plans to send its dresses to a fabric store in Wisconsin that will forward them on to Africa.
When Ruby Jackson thinks of Africa, she hears singing.
As a Delta flight attendant for 33 years, Jackson spent weeks at a time in Africa during the 1980s and ’90s. Now retired, she is working to help the African people she remembers so fondly.
The Mt. Pisgah campers design each dress, which means no two are alike. The dresses, made from pillowcases, are sleeveless, with straps that tie around the shoulders.Jackson and her friend, Louise Morris, are volunteering their time to teach preteen campers at Mt. Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church in Cordova to stitch dresses out of pillowcases for Little Dresses for Africa, a Michigan-based Christian nonprofit organization, which will then distribute the dresses to African villages and orphanages.
Jackson, who lives in Eads, remembers scenes from Nairobi, Kenya, and Tanzania and Uganda. A grandmother sitting on a tree stump stirring a black pot of soup while her shoeless grandchildren run in the dirt. A woman begging her to take her infant to America. Families sleeping on grass mats. And she remembers children singing in an orphanage with dirt floors, many orphaned as a result of the AIDS epidemic, she said.
She said she couldn’t figure out what they were singing about.
About 14.1 million children in sub-Saharan Africa have lost one or both parents to AIDS, according to a 2009 UNICEF report that reflects numbers from 2007. Although children in sub-Saharan Africa are orphaned for a variety of reasons, AIDS accounts for roughly 25 percent of the cases, said Catherine Langevin, editor of the UNICEF report.
At first, Jackson felt overwhelmed by the situation in Africa. But, after a friend told her about Little Dresses for Africa, she knew she could do something.
“When you’re there, it’s just too big. (With Little Dresses for Africa), everybody can do something. If you can just donate a pillowcase, that’s something,” said Jackson, who estimates she will have more than 100 dresses when the camp ends Friday.
The dresses are sleeveless with elastic necklines and straps that tie around the shoulders. No two are alike.
At Mt. Pisgah, there’s a red dress with white polka dots and a bow. A floral print with a white, lacy ruffle. Striped dresses. Plaid dresses. One with a Pocahontas character on the front. Another with moon- and-star patterns. A gray dress with buttons. A brown dress with polka dot pockets.
One camper, Cortney Anderson, 10, designed a brown dress with floral straps. She reasoned that the flowers needed dirt — the brown pillowcase — to grow.
It’s the individual quality of each dress that instills a sense of worthiness in the girls who receive them, said Rachel O’Neill, founder of Little Dresses for Africa. Unlike money, tangible items like clothing will go straight to the children and won’t get “locked in bureaucracy,” said O’Neill. The dresses are something they can hold.
“They’ll wear this dress until it’s just strings,” said Jackson, holding up a light green one with black and white lace trimmings.
“We’re not just sending dresses. We’re sending hope,” added O’Neill.
So far, Little Dresses for Africa has distributed quite a lot of “hope” — approximately 67,000 dresses in 14 African countries, according to O’Neill. Dresses have also gone to Guatemala, Belize, Haiti and Indian reservations.
Recently, the organization started Britches for Boys, which distributes shorts to boys. In September, Little Dresses for Africa will distribute dresses in Malawi.
As for Jackson and Morris, they plan to continue making the dresses for many more summers. This is their third.
Jackson has heard from former co-workers that the situation in Africa has only worsened.
But for Jackson’s campers, like Temple White, 11, the situation is really quite simple, as simple as making dresses from pillowcases:
“If other people aren’t doing it, then somebody has to step up and do it,” the girl said.
It’s the same attitude that characterizes African culture, said O’Neill. She described it as an “upbeat society” — a culture where people sing.
– Emily Greenberg: 529-2542
More information
To learn more about Little Dresses for Africa, go to littledressesforafrica.org or call (734) 637-9064.
More than 100 dresses for little girls are headed for Africa as part of the “Little Dresses for Africa” program that caught the attention of some local quilters. The group normally makes quilt tops for CAER, the Elk River food shelf. They made 60 large quilt tops this past year, and another 40 baby quilts. See more in Editor Jim Boyle’s Star News story. The women who sew every Thursday at the Elk River Activity Center are Lois Lundemo, Esther Larom, Dorie Sundeen, Lou Fountain, Shirley Sorenson, Frieda Bohlman, Muriel Ryan, Joann Siegrist, Diane Buchan and Shirley Stuttgen.
Slauson Middle School Sews Dresses for Africa
School Bells: Slauson students sew ‘Little Dresses’ for a cause Monday, April 26, 2010 Slauson Middle School students have been sewing after school during the third quarter. Teacher Carol Mohrlock and paraprofessional Lisa Field, along with volunteer and retired Ann Arbor teacher Suette King, have offered an after-school club called “Little Dresses for Africa.” Each Thursday, for one hour after school, students met to learn how to sew dresses and discuss social and economic issues of the world’s least developed nations. The club is called “Little Dresses for Africa.” Each Thursday, for one hour after school, students met to learn how to sew dresses and discuss social and economic issues of the world’s least developed nations. “The students were energetic and eager to learn,” said Mohrlock. “They have shared how good it feels to help others while learning a new skill.” Several club members have offered to “run the club” during the next school year and have been talking with their friends about joining this club. “Little Dresses for Africa” is a nonprofit organization created to help send relief to the children of Central Africa. Simple dresses are made from pillowcases and distributed through orphanages, churches and kids camps throughout Africa. One of the goals is to plant in the hearts of little girls that they are worthy. To date, “The Little Dresses for Africa project has received 40,000 dresses including donations from 49 states and three foreign countries. Slauson Middle School has contributed to the cause while teaching many students how to sew. – Information for this story was submitted by Carol Mohrlock, a geography teacher at Slauson Middle School.
Amazing and helpful, the sewers at New York Life have been busy and continue to turn out some beauties! Thank you, Diane for sending these great photos! The children will love them!
Click Here to see an amazing video of The Bridgeway Women’s Ministry of Roseville, CA making a difference!
