By Sophie Pappas
What started out as a little project to keep a Carmel family’s ‘abuelita,’ Spanish for little grandmother, active as she neared her 98th birthday, has quickly become a full-scale operation to help little girls in Africa.
Rosario Serra, the mother of longtime-Carmel resident Marta Spence, was approached by one of her granddaughters in September about sewing dresses for an organization called Little Dress for Africa, a 501c3 headquartered in Michigan but meeting the needs of little girls and boys across the globe. The founder, Rachel O’Neal, ships homemade dresses sewn in the U.S. to girls aging from 2 to 15 in countries like Sierra Leon and Malawi.
“She started sewing and this just took off,” Spence said. “Originally my mother wanted to just sew a few, then she said she wanted to sew 100 dresses.”
For Serra’s 98th birthday in November neighbors and friends from around Carmel gifted her with fabrics and materials to help her meet her goal of 100. As of last week, she has made 105.
But her sewing schedule has not been simple. Through illness and feeling weary, Rosario has enlisted the help of Spence and most recently her son, Jorge Serra, who was visiting from Argentina for a month. Rosario taught Jorge how to sew even though he said he still can’t do the difficult parts such as sewing the straps of the dresses.
“It was important to help her complete the first 100,” Jorge said.
Now, the trio has begun sewing little pants for boys in Africa, an idea not originally in their minds.
“It is a generalization and not true in every African country of course, but many African girls feel bad about themselves or feel they are a burden,” Spence said. “In some of these countries, if they don’t have enough food in the family, the boys get fed first. The dresses are to show the girls they are important too. But now we think the boys may need clothes as well.”
Rosario said she only wants to help those in need.
“I’ve done that all my life,” Rosario said. “Those of us who are lucky enough to have all of our needs satisfied, we have the moral responsibility to help others who do not have enough to eat, enough clothing or education.”
Rosario refuses to use the flowery materials from the girls’ dresses for the boys’ pants.
“My mother doesn’t think boys should wear flowers,” Spence said, laughingly.
About Rosario
Born in Spain nearly 100 years ago, Rosario immigrated to Argentina with her family when she was a little girl. By age 5 she had learned to sew.
She lived in Buenos Aires for many years until Spence, a former Eli Lilly employee, met her American husband and moved to the U.S.
She has been a widow for 28 years, and now credits sewing the dresses for African girls for keeping her alive in her 98th year.
“I feel well now,” Rosario said. “I feel well since I tackled this project. I feel useful and I feel that I have accomplished my purpose on Earth.”
Spence and Rosario’s Carmel neighbor Jean Miller said she was amazed at what the family is doing inside their kitchen next door.
“[Rosario] used to sew wedding dresses and designed clothes,” Miller said. “She’s such a skilled seamstress and now she’s doing this amazing thing. It’s really turned into a fantastic sewing experience. I’m not sure she will ever quit.”
Little Dresses for Africa
The organization will likely send Rosario’s dresses to Africa on March 15.
To help pay for the shipping of these dresses, donations can be made by visiting littledressesforafrica.org.
