THE DRESS -- Part 4!

There was yet another surprise in the dress story...on Sunday, June 12 when Suzanne attended worship at the Bondeko congregation in Kinshasa.

After church yesterday, Mama Manjina, assistant director of BOMEN workshop and the one who was so upset when I first mentioned buying the dress that Monique was making, told me she had brought me a gift.

After the worship service she brought me a package: a beautiful dress similar to the one that Monique was making and similar to the one Marie-Jeanne gave me, made of fresh, new cloth in strips of different colorful, beautiful designs which she had made for me! Some strips even had the descriptive stickers still in place, perhaps to underscore the fact that BOMEN does NOT sell/give away dresses made from used cloth! Beautiful lace around the sleeves.

We laughed together and I marveled at its loveliness, its perfect fit, her understanding of just what I had wanted.

I hugged her and kissed her, put the dress on over the dress I was wearing, and pranced around the little church, showing it to everyone. She insisted we have our picture taken and I will make sure she gets a copy.

I shall be wearing beautiful, loose, cool, colorful dresses for a long time. I wonder if they will provide the much-needed reminder to think before I talk or whether they will allow me to continue to stumble into

question-filled situations.

I did promise the BOMEN women who were together after church that I will come to the workshop and ORDER some new clothes for which I will PAY them well!