Open House a big success

We had more than 50 women and girls come to the African Open House last Sat. God is good- more than $600 in widows' crafts were sold and I met some amazing women with a heart for service. We got a pick-up truck full of fabric donated so if you live nearby and sew, PLEASE come get some fabric. Yesterday I delevered two big bags of dresses to a woman in Loveland who is going with Group Publishing to Kenya.
Here's a couple more photos of how adorable these girls look and how much fun it is to dress them.

Save the date- walk or pledge!

In the US we take clean water for granted, but more than one billion people in the world don't- and you can make a difference for at least one village in Uganda.

Sat. Nov. 6 beginning at 9 am, you can join us for a 6K Walk4Water along the Big Thompson river trail in Loveland, Co. We're raising funds to drill a well in Uganda through Water4KidsInternational, a US based non-profit.

Online registration begins Sept. 15 at Water4KidsInternational.org or call Carolyn Griebe at (970) 776-9029 or Carmen Kamrath at (970) 227-6402 for more information.

Track the Loveland Walk4Water on facebook too!

Walk4Water

On Sat. Nov. 6, we will have our first Walk4Water in Loveland, Co. The 6k trek from Fairgrounds Park to Wilson Ave. and back, along the river trail will simulate the distance African women and children are walking each way, each day for unsafe water. By registering online at Water4KidsInternational.org beginning Sept. 15, you can help bring clean, safe, life-giving water to a village I visited during my July trip. The well will serve thousands of children and adults. Click on the link below to see a short video. Thanks!!



Water 4 Kids International

Let's Get Sewin'

Dress A Girl Around the World continues to make dresses for girls all over the globe. Download a pattern at dressagirlaroundtheworld.com or come to a sewing party!

To drop off or pick up supplies, drop off dresses, call Carolyn (970) 776-9029
Here is the fall sewing party schedule at Carolyn's house- 5463 Lighthouse Point Ct. Loveland, Co.


Sept.

Thurs., Sept. 9 6:30-8:30 pm

Thurs., Sept. 30 6:30-8:30 pm

Sat., Sept. 11 9-11 am

Wed., Sept. 22 6:30-8:30 pm


Oct.

Sat., Oct 9 9-11 am

Sat., Oct. 23 9-11 am

Thurs., Oct. 7 6:30-8:30 pm

Thurs., Oct. 21 6:30-8:30 pm


Nov.

Sat., Nov. 13 9-11 am

Thurs., Nov. 17 6:30-8:30 pm

Children welcoming us

The library is open!

Carolyn, Moses and Phillip at the newly painted library

While in Uganda in July, some of our team painted the interior of the first African Christian Children's Library. It is housed in Busia Border Primary School with 1400 students. Several bookshelves were built (there's no IKEA or Target) and Meg brought 800 books to add to those sent to Moses over the last year. This library is just the first- God is blessing the vision to bring hope through literacy.

more dress a girl photos

My daughter-in-law Andrea made this one

Dress A Girl

Mission Moments-Uganda- Dress A Girl Around the World

Spending months hosting sewing parties at Summitview, collecting dresses from friends and relatives from Loveland to Canada, made it possible to pack two suitcases with dresses, undies and dolls for the girls in Uganda and Kenya. What a joy it was to see each unique dress with its colorful design, bows, buttons and trims. Each dress had a pocket so the girls could carry their dolls with them around the play yard. No two girls are alike and neither were the dresses.

Within the first few days, we loaded up our bus and drove the 15 minutes from our motel in Tororo, Uganda to the Smile Africa Bison site. Monday through Saturday, 400 children make their way from surrounding villages by foot to receive two meals, medical care, education and most importantly the love of God demonstrated by Pastor Ruth, the teachers and cooks. The ratio is 7 adults to 300 to 400 children on any given day. Hope4Kids has partnered with Smile Africa to dig a fresh water well, erect a shade structure for the children to eat under, a clinic, several classrooms and a latrine. Construction is also underway for a water tower that will make showers possible and a girls' dorm.

Life in Africa is not only hard- it's cruel. When the children began coming to Marty's Kitchen at Smile Africa and refused to dig in trash heaps to provide food for the family, a job mostly for girls- they were thrown out of their homes. Now 40 girls live under the care of Smile Africa widows and will soon move into the dorm with these loving caregivers.

The children come dirty, hungry, sick and lonely. Children as young as fours years old carry baby brothers or sisters so they too can get fed. Then they must set aside their own childhoods and care for them all day. Just getting hundreds of children bathed, their wounds dresses, malaria medication passed out and porridge into their plastics cups, then into tummies, takes hours with so little help. Of course, the older ones step up to take responsibility as is their role at home.

The day we dressed the girls, we asked their teachers to begin with the littlest girls first. Some were little more than a year old. We did the best we could to find a dress to fit them. Because they are not used to seeing Mzungus (white people), we made plenty of babies cry. The toddlers, then primary girls and finally pre-teens took their turns being fitted for a dress. There was no arguing over who got the prettiest, no foot stomping that they didn't want THAT one, just gratitude and smiles as these mostly barefoot and ragged girls were treated as princesses for a few moments. They especially loved the undies and were showing them off to each other. Once outside again, they played with their dolls and twirled their dresses-just like any little girl would with a new dress.

As our team of women dressed the girls, we were all giggles and smiles too. I got to say "Edie made that one, Shannon made that one, Linda made that one" and so on. When I put the dress that my nine year old grandaughter made on one of the girls, I couldn't hold back the tears- tears of joy that I was so blessed to be the one able to be part of those Holy moments- dressing the naked in Jesus' name.

We are still making dresses for Kenya, Guatemala and Uganda so please continue to sew so we can continue to bless these precious children around the world.

Safari