Donate your wedding dress to Malawi
Sep 12th, 2012 by Holly
We have been swamped recently by enquiries from big-hearted brides wanting to donate their dresses overseas.
So we were thrilled when we got a different kind of email – from a reader in Buckinghamshire asking how she could collect pre-loved wedding dresses to help a family and community in Malawi.
Clare Clements sponsors the education of two young children in Malawi where, as she explained:
Their mother tells me that, because so few brides can afford to buy wedding dresses, there is a huge demand for dresses that can be hired out for the day instead. She has asked me to investigate the possibility of collecting donated wedding dresses in the UK and sending them to her in Malawi, so she can use them to start a small business and provide a better standard of living for herself and her children.
We loved this idea – and we knew you would too. Here’s how you can spread the love and make a difference, not only to another bride, but to a family and a whole community…
Meet Joyce…
Joyce is a single mother with two children who lives near Mangochi, a town in the southern region of Malawi.
In an effort to create a better life for herself and her children, Joyce has started making bridal flower arrangements for friends and neighbours. Fresh flowers are prohibitively expensive, so her bouquets and assorted floral decorations are made using artificial flowers and a wide range of small baskets decorated with glossy paper ribbons to match the colour scheme chosen by the bride.
Through this work, she has seen how women cannot afford to buy a dress for their big day. She has identified a strong demand for beautiful white dresses and bridal accessories that can be hired out and shared around the community.
Setting up a bridal hire business would not only improve the standard of living for Joyce and her children, it would bring dignity and joy to local women on their wedding day, and impact on more women as the business expands and takes on staff.
Women of the world: Unite!
Like Joyce, many Malawian women are raising their children alone, with such families bearing the brunt of the poverty and lack of resources or opportunities in the country. Although this small, densely-populated country has improved in many ways in recent years, 3.4 million people still live in ‘extreme poverty’, 45% of children suffer from malnutrition, and it has one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world.
Despite having a female president, women still have fewer rights, less access to education, and are much more vulnerable than men to disease, poverty and social exclusion.
How you can help
Joyce needs:
- White wedding dresses
- Veils and tiaras
- Shoes and jewellery
- Bridesmaid dresses
So don’t let your dream dress turn into Mrs Havisham in a box in the attic. Give it a new lease of life, let it become a globe-trotting celebrity and watch it do the job it was created to do for years to come!
- If you would like to keep the smiles going long after your day is over, find out how to donate your wedding dress to Malawi on the ChildCare Malawi website.
Holly Dawson
Related Posts:
Charity wedding month
Spreading the love (part 1): How to plan a charity wedding
Spreading the love (part 2): If you love something give it away
Top charity wedding venues
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- Follow us on Twitter @ethicalweddings
[...] day instead. She has asked me to investigate the possibility of collecting … Read the original: How to donate your wedding dress overseas to … – Ethical Weddings All Things Are Ready – A Bride's Complete Christian Wedding Planner Tags: bride, hired-out, [...]
This is such a brilliant idea! I have added a note about the project to my blog post tomorrow. I’d love it if I could send some readers with dresses your way.
[...] spirit, to give your old wedding dress an adventure – and another bride a smile. Read more here and get in touch with us to find out how to send your dress off for some goodwill globetrotting. No [...]
Wonderful! Thanks a lot. We would love to spread the word far and wide…tweet us the link to your blog post when it’s live!
[...] Spreading the love (part 2): If you love something give it away Top charity wedding venues Donate your wedding dress to Malawi Charity wedding lists: How to give as well as receive Follow that dress – every dress tells a [...]
I have a very pretty simple lacey wedding dress I’d love to donate, how would I do that?
Do the donated dresses need to be white, or are ivory dresses accepted too?
Hi Fleur and Alana,
Please contact me, Clare Clements, via the contact details on my website (www.childcaremalawi.org.uk) if you are still interested in donating your wedding dresses to Joyce in Malawi. I would love to hear from you.