People are always giving me ideas to make a difference in the lives of women. Audrey approached me on one of our trips to Uganda and said, “I have this pattern. I think you could teach the women how to make pillowcase dresses.”

 

I tucked it away with my other ideas and forgot about it. Nearly a year later, when my sister Joan and I were going to Uganda I wondered, “What project can we do with the women in the tailoring program?” I remembered that pattern so we collected pillowcases and taught the women at Smile Africa to make dresses! It was sew much fun! The next month, Pastor Ruth, the administrator of the program, sent me pictures of the Karamojong girls –the most despised group in all of Uganda—and they were all wearing dresses.

 

People from around the USA began to write and ask, “Can we make dresses?” We sent 50 dresses to Honduras with my friend Emily and when those pictures came back of the girls wearing their colorful dresses and beaming with pride, we were all hooked!

 

As we grew we stopped using pillowcases and now use beautiful, sturdy cotton fabric!

 

Dedicated volunteers throughout the United States and around the world gather to sew and distribute dresses to girls in need around the world because we believe that every girl deserves at least one dress. . .