Miriam Pacheco from the Winona Lake (IN) Grace Brethren Church is currently in the Central African Republic, working with Encompass missionary Barb Wooler in the Project Hope & Charite orphan’s ministry. Here is an edited excerpt of an e-mail she sent yesterday:
“We brought with us lots of dresses that women from three churches made from pillowcases. The pattern is designed to use a pillowcase, but I know lots of these were made with fabric ~ nowhere have I seen pillowcases in some of these colors and designs! There are ties on each shoulder so they are very growth-friendly.
“They are beautiful, and the little girls’ eyes just sparkled when they put them on. We took a bunch of pictures. “We” includes Barb, me, Jacquie Jensen, and several of the African ladies on staff (one of which can act like a sergeant and she got all those girls organized!)
“We enjoyed it so much!! We had the dresses all sorted by sizes and then the little girls were brought from their classes in groups of 10-15. As we measured the dresses on them for length, they were pretty sober-looking. But as soon as we put one over her arm, each gal would break out in a huge smile as she went back to her chair to put it on.
“Then it was taking them downstairs to get their picture taken on the steps. They put their arms around each other’s shoulders, flashed those gorgeous smiles again, and started giggling as soon as the picture was snapped. There are some pretty happy little girls in Bangui tonight! Most of them will probably want to sleep in their new dresses.”