Dress a Girl Around the World

Check out our Smilebox slideshow on the Dress a Girl Around the World Facebook page.  We have received donations of fabric and use a revised pattern that do not use bias tape for the straps but rather grosgrain ribbon or straight grain strips of the matching or contrast fabric.  We received a large donation of panties that we will tuck into each pocket.  

20 of our dresses are going to the Philippines where we have a new church plant.  Our missionaries are here and will take them back when they return.

It has been a delightful journey and we are finding more women each week who want to participate by taking a kit and pouring their prayers and blessings as they sew.  We're grateful God has brought us all together.  Our group also crochets & knits beanies to send with missions teams--so far to Mongolia, Thailand, Nepal & our own neonatal unit for preemies at the hospital.

We're Blessed to Bless,

chiyo

57 dresses are on there way to Nepal with the help of Dr, Dave our friendly dentist who travels the world helping out with dental care.  Our dresses should arrive in late March.  We are all very excited to share our passion with the lovely ladies in Nepal.  Our next sew fest will be Feb. 18th.  I've been working on the Main Event this summer 1000 girls making dresses at summer camp, WOW!  If you are in Oregon and want to help let me know.

Laura

I have another stash of fabric scraps for anyone who would like to have them; enough for pockets, straps, doll making...message me and I'll ship them to you.

Ingrid

DAGlubbock@gmail.com

There will be a public sewing day for friendship house in Uganda public is invited to attend. Location Kona Paradise Clubhouse Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on Feburary 3, 2012 from 9 am till 11:45 for more information you can contact  Betty at (808- 640-6587) If you have a sewing machine bring it with you.

NEWS FLASH for Zimbabwe sewers: If you are making skirts for our Moms and Moms-to-Be we have found a BETTER SKIRT than one with elastic. It is simply  66" of 45" Fabric, hemmed of all raw edges. It's a WRAP skirt; the 66" will go around Mom and the width (45") will be the length of the skirt. The skirts can be worn and tied in many ways; this is what the ladies there wear on a daily basis - IF they have them. These WRAP skirts will be much easier to pack and will have more than one use. The Zambias will go over the wrap skirts to hold babies close to Mom! I am so excited about this addition to  dresses for Zimbabwe! Please message me if you have questions! Thanks!

Ingrid

DAGlubbock@gmail.com

Let's make ZAMBIAS! These are the wraps that are used by many if not all women in Zimbabwe. They are used to tie their babies onto their backs (to keep them safe and warm as well as to maintain their own hands free to continue to work!) A length of fabric 72" long (2 yards) cut in half lengthwise (45" divided by 2 = 22.5"), hemmed will make two Zambias! They also tie Zambias around their waists over their skirts until they need to be used. Multipurpose wraps! Easy!!! You can use bright (the brighter the better) cotton fabric or even fleece (for their winter months). We will add Zambias to the list of items needed by these new mothers and women in general. They also use them to tie items onto their heads! You really don't have to have extensive sewing knowledge to make a Zambia! Let's see how many we can make! I am SO excited

Dress A Girl - West Texas is now sewing and collecting dresses for Zimbabwe.  The dresses will be going to the Karanda Medical Hospital via Dr. Greg Miller and his wife and children.  Some dresses will go on a cargo leaving a Texas or Louisiana port the end of February and the remainder will go with the Millers the end of June.

If you would like to help us with this mission trip, I would love to have your dresses.  Please make your pillowcase dresses 24-26" long (most of the girls at Karanda are 5-10 years old).  We are also going to make skirts with measuring  25"-30" in length with the waist measuring 25-28".  These skirts will be for expectant Moms.

We are also collecting underwear for both boys and girls and you can find how to do that by visiting Walmart.com, Registry, Wish List, type in Ingrid Simmons.  That will take you to the shopping list for Underwear.  Walmart will then ship the product directly to me and I will add your donation to our Dresses to Zimbabwe.  Walmart does not tell me who the purchaser is, so if you'll please message me on Facebook, DAG West Texas, or on this blog to tell me you've bought Undies, I would be most grateful.

We are also collecting boys britches if you'd rather make those.  You can find a tutorial on how to make these britches out of t-shirts here on the DAG website.

Thanki  you in advance for any donations you wish to send to Zimbabwe.  This country, like many African countries has been ravaged by HIV/AIDS and left so many children orphaned.  Thank you!

Ingrid Simmons

DAG West Texas

DAGlubbock@gmail.com

During 2011, dresses were made by the wonderful sewers of DAG West Texas and sent out.  This was our first year, and we feel we've made a great start.  Here are our numbers and destinations:

63 Nicaragua

80 Zimbabwe

30 Appalachia

21 Honduras

The dresses we've been collecting for Nicaragua since October haven't gone out yet - they are planned for mid-January, so they'll be counted in our 2012 numbers.  Thanks to all the sewers who have participated in dress making this year; absolutely could not have done this without you!  Have a wonderful New Year and let's get sewing!

Awhile back there was a post from a group of Girl Scouts who designed a badge for Dress A Girl.  I would like to get in touch with the leader of that group.   I recently have been asked to help a group of Girl Scouts on a Service project and they have selected Dress A Girl.  I do not have firm numbers yet but they are expecting around 1000 girls at this three day event.  I could use some suggestions on the best way to proceed.  Should we have kits made up and ready to go? or is it better or them to learn how to make the dresses start to finish?  Dose anyone have suggestions?

Happy New Year from Hope 4 Women International

And

Dress a Girl Around the World!

What a great year this has been! Through you God has blessed our programs in unbelieveable ways!

As we wind down year two of Dress a Girl Around the World we are excited to report we have delivered over 60,000 dresses to girls in 56 countries. We did 12,000 in 2010 and 48,000 in 2011! Thank YOU for being an important part of this project and for making this happen. I wonder if we could deliver 100,000 in 2012 . . . Together I definitely think we can!

Jennie O’Hara wrote and illustrated a book for Dress a Girl–The Pillowcase Party-you can find it on our Dress a Girl web store along with it’s matching puzzle and dress a girl balloons for your princess parties! http/www.dressagirlaroundtheworld.com/apps/webstore/

We held our inaugural princess party in Uganda! It was a blast. We are also planning to hold a “Prince & Princess Party” in April. We will hold it in an enclosed area at night with glow sticks and lots of other fun things!

 We not only delivered dresses but we raised money for our first well in Uganda. The well is being drilled as I write! Now we will be providing fresh water to a village freeing up women and girls from walking long hours in search of water that often is not fit to drink. Girls will now have time to attend school and women will have time to work on their businesses!

If you would like to take part in the well dedication in Uganda—we are going in April and will be holding a party at the well! We’ll have balloons, pink lemon aid and of course give out pink dresses to the girls and red shorts to the boys.   Contact Kristin@h4ki.org for more information.

Hope 4 Women International provided funds through a generousdonor for a sewing center in Rwanda! Also to be dedicated in April as our teamtravels from Uganda to Rwanda.

Thirty-nine women graduated from our sponsorship program in Uganda. For $36 a month and a one-year commitment a woman is enrolled in our sponsorship program where she is taught English, Reading, Math & Writing skills. She also attends a weekly Mission Character class to learn the Biblical principals of operating a business. Along the way she receives start-up capital and is mentored in her new business. At the end of one year she graduates as a businesswoman! Our friend Marj makes pink graduation caps for them to wear.

Currently—thanks to you there are 85 women enrolled in oursponsorship program! Thirty of them are scheduled to graduate in April 2012!

I recently sponsored Jane. She is a widow living with HIV virus. She has worked as a counselor for an AIDS support organization and also counseled women in domestic violence. Now as a widow she has been chased fromher home--ridiculed and abused by her husband's family--the sewing machine she was using for income generating was stolen. She is now with us and has been training our sponsored women in Mission Character classes. So I was thinking since she already meets with the women once a week –if she is willing we could set her up as a counselor for our women. I did sit in on her mission character class when I was there and was impressed! The classroom was filled with our sponsored women and they were all actively involved.

Of course we are buying her a new sewing machine so she can continue with her skills and build an income generating business and with our English, Math, etc classes there is no end to what Jane can do!!

I’m so jazzed about being a part of Jane’s future! If you would like to change the life of a woman email Lisa@h4wi.org and she will give you all the details and set you up!

Our Victory Gardens are flourishing in Uganda. The Diamond Unique Co-op just harvested and sold several watermelon crops. They are growing cantaloupe for the first time. Businesses and restaurants seek after their unique vegetables. They are experimenting with raising pigs and poultry. They will add brick oven making and tree harvesting in 2012—the ovens will be available for sale –we can purchase them for our sponsored women and hopefully get several of our women involved in making the ovens.

The Co-op also invested in two new motorcycles –one for transporting the members to train other garden projects and to conduct business. The other is used as a “taxi” to generate income and to pay back the loan on the motorcycles. They are diligent in the repayment and we are pleased with all the progress they are making. As they reach out and train throughout Uganda our dream is for Uganda to feed themselves!

On the home front:

Our Tempe gathering place/warehouse will begin hosting workdays! On Friday, January 13th we will hold a volunteer meeting/luncheon and workday. On Monday, January 16th—Martin Luther King Day—we will make britches for boys!

June 21-23, 2012 is our First Annual Hope 4 WomenInternational/Dress a Girl Around the World Convention to be held in the Phoenix area. It’s going to be great! Speakers, break out sessions/demonstrations, venders and LOTS of fun! Details to follow!

Rachel is available for speaking: To book Rachel at your event, church or women’s group contact Rachel@h4wi.org

Coming in January: I Dressed a Girl Around the World bumper stickers!

Watch for them on our webstore! Thank you Laura Hunter from http/www.ilovecrafty.co.uk/ for designing this image!

Thank all of you for making all of this possible! If you would like to donate to our causes please follow this link and click on the Dress a Girl or Hope 4 women box http/www.hope4kidsinternational.org/donation-cart

I'm looking forward to another year of partnership with each of you! Let's make 2012 the year of excellence! I know God has great things in store for each of us!

God bless you!

Happy New Year!

Rachel

Executive Director of Hope 4 Women International