Our Dresses made it to Cambodia! See The Photos

 Dresses For Cambodia

Earlier this year I shared with you my desire to give my friend Sarah, who is a missionary serving in Cambodia, some little dresses to take back with her so that she could give them to some little girls she meets on her travels.

My aim was for about 20 dresses. As I was sewing alone, I felt like that was quite a lot!

You all responded, and a few months later my sewing room had a mountain of dresses in it ranging in sizes from 1-8 in all the colours of the rainbow! [You can see all of the dresses here]

You all blew me away with your generosity, and so that is the reason I am writing this post. Not only is it important to share about a need and desire, it is also important to report back and share about generosity and good deeds, so the world can see what can be achieved when a few women gather together.

Together with our sewing machines combined we sent over 180 dresses to Cambodia last month!

Ladies, you inspire me to no end. Each of you who sent in a dress were so eager to give and bless. We didn't make these dresses to feed a nation, we made them to bring a smile, and for a small moment let a girl know around the world that she is loved.

180 smiles.

The dresses ended up at the Princess Project, which is an organisation run by an Australia couple called Ben and Cherie. They have been living and serving in Cambodia and raising their children there for 8 years.

They run this organisation by finding children collecting bottles and rubbish for recycling. They find their parents and in return for the parents agreeing not to send their kids out on to the street to make money/rice for the family (one massive bag of bottles equates to about a bowl of rice I have been told) , the Princess Project pays for them to go to school, runs an after school program for the children and provides enough rice for the family for the week.

They believe that prevention is key and education breaks the cycle of poverty, and just last month enrolled 90 children and youth into school!

It seems like hard, emotion, soul wrenching, joyfilled work. Ben and Cherie run their organisation through financial partnerships all around the world. If this is something you would like to contribute to, here is a web page about how you can be involved.

The photos they took of them giving out the dresses are below, along with a little story I have to share about one little girl in a purple dress...

And personally, this is the smile that made it all worth it for me::

Finally, on her return home one of my friends, Sue, was telling me that a few days after the dresses had been given out, she was in a village helping to build a chicken coop for a family when a little girl approached her in a beautiful purple dress::

The little girl didn't say a word, but got up close to Sue and poked out her tummy swaying from side to side.

Can you imagine it?? I can. My daughter does this to me ALL the time when she wants me to comment or notice something she's wearing. 

Sue immediately recognised that this must be a dress that we had made, and asked her about it.

Isn't it amazing? I was so struck by this story. All over the world, girls must be looking down, poking out their bellies and turning slightly, waiting for someone to notice something. All over the world girls are the same. My 4 year old daughter and this girl in her new purple dress are just the same.

My friend Amy spotted this photo on Facebook and was ecstatic to see the smile this girl had while wearing the purple dress she had made.

2 more things before I go:

Our friend Sarah is doing well, thanks to the money we raised she was able to pay off the cost of all of her immunisations, medical bills in Cambodia and back ground checks while she was there. She is now returning to university in Auckland to finish her almost-finished teaching degree and once she has certificate in hand plans to return to Cambodia to love on these Kiddos. She can't get them out of her heart. 

Instead of Sarah taking the dresses as planned, our Missions Team from my church happened to be visiting Cambodia last month to assist Ben and Cherie so the dresses went in their suitcases. They were very pleased to be able to give them out, and wanted to thank everyone for making them. 

Dress a Girl around the World is a brilliant organisation you should get behind if you really enjoyed being part of Dresses For Cambodia! It's like this, except they are doing it all. the. time! There is a chapter of it in New Zealand, or if you are heading to an area in need, contact them to take some dresses with you. They are always wanting to sneak dresses into peoples luggage! 

If you sent in a dress, thank you! Can you see yours in any of the photos? Tell me about it! 

I so loved organising and sewing for this project. Thank you for making it easy for me, and for being a blessing. However, looking at these photos, don't you feel so much more blessed in the giving?! I certainly do! 

Love, Sophie xx

READ MORE:

The beginning of Dresses For Cambodia

Final Dresses For Cambodia and photos of each dress

Dresses For Cambodia - THE FINAL + Fundraising for Sarah

My Sisters, this is it! Our Dresses For Cambodia campaign has come to an end. The Dresses are piled high in my spare bedroom, awaiting packaging and suitcasing, to be sent to Cambodia.

I'll show them all to you in this post, and tell you the story of how they came to be. At the end of this post I hope you'll consider donating a few dollars to our friend Sarah who is living side by side our brothers and sisters in Cambodia.

On the 22nd January 2015 I put out a call to see, tentatively, if anyone would like to contribute to my personal desire to send handmade dresses to Cambodia with my friend Sarah who was returning indefinitely to serve the Khmer people who she had loved over the past year in 2014. 

Its always been my desire to support and bless Sarah in some way, I think she is an incredible person who I have had the pleasure of knowing for 8 years. Those kind of people (like Sarah) just attract a want and need to love them and help them in what ever they are doing. 

In church one night in January I was wondering how I could do that, and the idea was planted that I could sew. Sew I could! I could sew dresses for little girls in Cambodia. Who doesn't love having a new dress? Surely girls all over the world have a deep rooted desire to be a princess in a new dress, I wondered as I watched my own 3 year old daughter spin in her own beautiful dresses.

I emailed Sarah and asked if that was something she thought would be useful to her / the girls of Cambodia.

In her excited reply she told me of an organisation that she knows there that pick up street children each morning, ranging in ages from 1 year old plus. She told me that this organisation picks them up off the street and clothes, feeds, teaches and dresses the children for the day. Then they are (sadly) returned to the streets for another night, and the same process is repeated the next day.

Usually the children are given soccer uniforms to wear as they are so readily available over there.

Sarah said it would be brilliant to be able to gift beautiful handmade dresses to these girls.

Often these children aren't given anything. So for them to be told that women across the world had made a dress just for them would be the best thing. 

And so, on the night of the 22nd of January, I sat at my laptop and told you this sad story, wondering if we could join together and do anything about it.

In my mind I thought we could make 20 or so dresses and that would be fantastic. Sarah was ecstatic about 20 dresses.

Over the next few days a flood of emails hit my inbox and I was overwhelmed and encouraged by the response.

By the end of the week the first dress had arrived.

And they kept coming. Some sent one dress, some sent 10. Some sent clips and hair ties and packages of new underwear. What touched me most was that people would go out of their way to sew for someone else. To bless a little girl across the world. A little Sister, and tell her that no matter who she is, or where she is from, she is loved and valued. She matters.

A good friend of mine, Rosita, designed up some beautiful tags to attach to each of the dresses.

On the front says "Little Sister" in Khmer. Sarah tells me that it is the highest honour to be called someones Sister in Cambodia, which I thought was highly fitting for The Sisterhood.

Without a doubt, I want these girls to know that we have made these dresses because they are our Little Sisters.

On the back of the tag is a series of numbers which I have circled to show the size, and I have also written each of your names in the "Made by..." part.  

Sarah is returning indefinitely to Cambodia in September to love on our Sisters there, and she will be taking our dresses with her.

My initial goal of 20 dresses was blown out of the water! As always, you responded with generosity and eagerness at blessing and loving. All together we made.... *drum roll*...

ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY SEVEN DRESSES!!!

Wowza!!!! I can't believe it!!! Can you imagine how many piles of dresses I have in my spare room now?! How many dresses you have made!! And why it took me weeks to tag and photograph them all!? Its beyond crazy!!

Infact, 177 dresses is far too many to fit into one suitcase! There are only so many dresses one can give out.

So that we don't overwhelm our Friend Sarah with our dresses, I'm going to be sending them to Cambodia in two lots; Sarah will take with her 100 squeezed into a suitcase when she returns in September, and I will be sending the remaining 77 with our Church missions team who are also going to Cambodia in August / September to serve the community. It's a happy co-incidence really that they are both going at the same time, and are both intending on giving out the dresses and blessing the children in different parts of Cambodia. 

Happy Happy! Can you believe it!? 177 dresses for little girls who spend their days worrying about their family members, their food and where they will sleep. 

Sure, our dresses may not save them, they may not be feeding them or providing for their practical needs, but they may give a moment of hope, a moment of a joy, perhaps even a smile. And that means the world to me. 

Its important to me that I support those who are out there in the world. The world changers, the hope givers, the smile creators; The Lovers.

My friend Sarah is one of those people. 

With her permission I have set up a Give A Little fundraising page on her behalf. It is my hope that we, together, with the little we have, can also financially provide for her as she returns to serve the Cambodian people.

If you are able to, please consider donating to this Give A Little Page for Sarah. I am hoping with the money we raise we can help contribute to her flights, or support her while she is over there. Once the fundraiser is finished 100% of the donations raised will be passed over to Sarah for her to use however she needs.

I know that many of you have asked if you can support Dresses For Cambodia / Sarah in a financial way, and this is how you can if you are able. 

In response to this post, the dresses and the fundraiser Sarah has said:: "I'm in a second hand shop and bawling my eyes out. It touches my heart so much that you've done this for these young girls. Sometimes all it takes is knowing one person is thinking & loving you. You guys are those people. So incredible. I would have never thought that this many people would reach out and be keen to help I'm so blown away & humbled. I can't wait to help you guys give these away!!!!!!! "

If you click on the DONATE button below it will take you to the fundraising page for you to contribute if you are able.

And now, my heart felt thanks to those who encouraged me along the way, and to those who used what they are good at to be a blessing. THANK YOU to the women who created dresses, prayed and loved.

Without you, this wouldn't have happened. It really does just take a few people joining together to see something happen. I feel honoured to be a part of this, and to know I am surrounded by such beautiful women like you.

And to my Friend Sarah. Girl, I love you to pieces. I have always admired your heart, commitment, friendship and your joy at serving others. Its who you are. Thank you for taking our dresses with you and for being so excited about this. I hope that one day I'll be as selfless and giving as you! Thank you for teaching me what it means to come alongside people and Love them. From all of us here, Thank you.

Thank you. Over and over again, Thank you.

Please share this post with your friends and whanau to show them what can be done when I few people gather together! Check back here to see how our fundraiser for Sarah is going!

Love always, Sophie xxxx

READ MORE:
Everything I've written about Dresses For Cambodia
Sarah In Cambodia Fundraising Page
Sophie Slim Facebook Page for Updates

A Dresses For Cambodia UPDATE:: Checking In

How are your dresses for Cambodia going? I've just made my first one (above)! I thought I had better start making, considering some of you are already emailing me with your finished dresses! Absolutely amazing!

If you are wanting to post them, flick me an email to find out my postal address! sophie [AT] moo2.co.nz

As for the pattern, it's quite easy! A beginner could easily whip one of these up in a few hours, an experienced sewer could probably do one in half an hour! Have a go and see what happens :)

You can find a free pattern and tutorial here

In the near future I'll be showing you some tags we are getting made to go with them, and announcing about a sewing bee and a charity providing shorts and tees for the boys (!!!!) all in good time though :)

Love, Sophie

To see what else I've written about #DressesForCambodia check out these posts:

Introducing Dresses For Cambodia

The Initial Response to Dresses for Cambodia

A Dresses For Cambodia UPDATE :: The Response

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Colour me stunned! Your response to the #DressesForCambodia campaign has absolutely blown me away! I expected a few of you to respond, maybe three? Instead, I have had emails from all across New Zealand, people I don't know are telling me people I don't know shared my post and they would love to be involved in making a dress for a Cambodia street child.

This all came about because of one of my favourite human beings - her name is Sarah. Although I don't know her that well, we have been in touch for the last 7+ years. She lives in Cambodia, and inspired me to no end with her complete love of others and her faith and dedication to serving them.

She told me about an organisation in Cambodia that picks up street children each morning, aged 2-5 (let that sink in) and they clothe, feed and teach them for the day. Mostly, the children are given soccer uniforms to wear. 

I'd like to think that a girl can appreciate a pretty dress wherever she is in the world, so I asked Sarah if I made some dresses for her, would that be something she thinks would be useful. To which she said would be amazing. To be able to give beautiful handmade dresses of love from across oceans, to little girls who may feel hopeless and alone. 

I had in mind to make 20 dresses by myself, which Sarah was delighted with. When I posted it about it on my blog, I was blown away, and... actually... (I'm a little nervous putting this out there)... I think we might end up with more than.... 100!! Thats just a guess. But it seems entirely reasonable now! 

How CRAZY! 

When dresses start arriving and I have more of an idea of how many we will have, Sarah will make contact with some other organisations to see if she can spread the love.

Closer to the time, I would also like to do some fundraising to pay for the shipping to get them to Cambodia. Sarah was going to slip my 20 dresses into a crate she was taking over with school supplies, but I think she might need a bigger crate now ;) More on that later.

Here's my original post, which has the information you'll want to know before you start sewing. And if you're not a sewer - it also has info about how you can sponsor a dress for $15! 

Man. I love you ladies so much. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with a totally cute photo of Jacob, sporting the first dress that has been made for #DressesForCambodia :: Made by Bridget. He's a size 6-9months, wearing a size 2! Totally adorable. 

READ MORE:
Information and details on Dresses For Cambodia
Want to know more about me and what I do? Check out The Sisterhood , or browse this blog.

Dresses for Cambodia

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A few weeks ago I was thinking about how this year I wanted to use something that I am good at to help others, when into my mind popped my friend Sarah, who for the last year has been living and serving in Cambodia. She is back in NZ right now visiting her family, but will be returning to work at a mission school for the next few years.

Sarah is an incredible person, I admire her a lot, she has a love of people I can't even begin to comprehend, so I really wanted to be able to help equip her to do the loving on our behalf across the seas.

Sarah told me about an organisation in Cambodia that picks up street children, aged 2-5 (let that sink in) and clothes, feeds and teaches them for the day.

Usually, they are dressed in soccer uniforms. I thought that perhaps I could make some simple dresses for the girls to which Sarah said Yes please!!

(source)

I have in mind to make 20+ 50+ 100+dresses for young Khymer girls that Sarah will be taking back with her in May to deliver, and any extra she would like to give them to their older siblings too.

A simple peasant dress will do well (as pictured), it's nice and stretchy so it can do a range of sizes in a top / tunic and will be able to grow with the young girls.

I wondered, and here's the part I'm nervous about; Would you join me in making dresses for Cambodia?

It may not be saving the world, but to me a smile across from across an ocean is a little bit like heaven coming to earth. Will you join me in making some more smiles in Cambodia?

Here's some details:

• Size's 1-7 wanted (please include a size label, like these cheap ones from Pattern Postie)
• Here's a tutorial for a simple peasant dress
• I would prefer if you did a peasant dress style, as its light and easy to get on and off and can grow with the girls, but if you really must do something different please make sure the shoulders are covered.
• Use only nice fabrics that you would be proud to dress your own children in. 
• When selecting fabrics, look for nice natural breathable fabrics (cotton and linen are great!)
• If you can't sew and you want to be involved, you could donate fabric (good quality vintage sheets, or unused pretty fabric) or money for fabric ($15 would sponsor a whole dress with brand new fabric). Just get in touch to ask how.
• They need to be finished and on my doorstep by April 15th 2015 :)

Yay! Will you join me? I'm super excited about this project, and I'll be starting this week! Let me know if you plan to join, and please share this post with your crafty/global loving friends

Love,
Sophie
xxx

you can email me on sophie{AT}moo2.co.nz for more information 

READ MORE:
The Response to this post
Want to know more about me and what I do? Check out The Sisterhood , or browse this blog.