Sunday was an amazing day meeting our sponsored children, but one of the greatest blessings of this trip was delivering the children's garments from Mary Peterson's dress project. Mary is a member of Gran Lutheran who put together a great community-wide project to make clothing for children in Africa.
Mary organized a "sew-in" in January at Mayville Lutheran. Many people of all ages (4 to 94) gathered at the church to sew simple dresses for girls and shorts for boys. Several people who aren't "sewers" pitched in to help cut and press fabric and package the clothes. Mary's efforts paid off--her sewing team produced over 200 dresses and over 50 pairs of shorts!! Staff at World Vision Bamako were speechless when they were told the story about the project. We gave a small dress to a staff member who has a baby and her eyes filled with tears.
The sewing project included 8 congregations, and drew people from as far as Fargo and Grand Forks to help. Thank you Mary, for your hard work on this project. What a tremendous privilege it was to deliver these items. These were precious gifts and through an interpreter the children were told that they were sewn with love by so many! We think the photos will speak for themselves.....
It was so much fun to be part of the day and making clothese for these children. It gave so us. who have so much, an opportunity to do something for these special kids. Will be great fun to see pictures. Thank you so much for delivering them. Had tears again reading about your experience. Pam Soholt
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you are having so much joy and success on your journey. Thank you for your kind words...the clothing surely comes from a community of caring and the work of many. A joy to give......
ReplyDeleteMary P.