Nottinghamshire Police Aid Convoys

Dress for Cinderella – (Wedding Dress) Project

A wonderful project was established in Russia in 2003 and Zambia in 2009 that utilised Wedding Dresses from the UK to inspire young girls who would not normally expect to see or handle such a beautiful gown to borrow one for their special day.

At our instigation and monitored by us, we have set up a number of salons or agencies where girls can choose dress, shoes and accessories – all free of charge. They are allowed to borrow it for three days, and must return it clean.

Other girls can hire a dress and accessories from the agencies and all money is strictly accounted for, and returns to the orphanages or schools – there are no paid staff whatsoever!

It also allowed girls in the orphanages to learn sewing, fitting and marketing skills using wonderful materials and expensive dresses, instead of making curtains and bed-covers.

By July 2007 we had dispatched over 4,000 Wedding Dresses; and 18 ‘Cinderella’ salons were open across Russia. An unexpected side effect was that an independent agency reported that girls were starting to remain in their native towns rather than running away to the cities at sixteen, and mainly down to the opportunity the salons had provided.

Generally we send 200 dresses, 50 pairs of shoes and 2 sewing machines to start a salon, and then we support it for the next few years. In 2008 we found that Russians in Moscow were sending their dresses and were equally inspired to help!

In 2009 we will be withdrawing from the Russian part of the project but commencing in Lusaka, Zambia to inspire and encourage some of the girls from the compounds and shanty towns.

This project gives hope and a sense of worth and it has also proved very popular with the school who didn’t believe it could happen.

The Principle of the school says “Most of these orphaned and extremely desperate girls, for whom the opportunity of wearing a wedding dress is beyond their wildest dreams, are going to be able to borrow or hire a dress for their wedding and we anticipate a long queue to join the workshops and salons that undertake the loaning and alterations of the dresses”.

Another wonderful facet is that the agency will be based in an Islamic School which, although already proud to be catering for all cultures, needs the kind of publicity that the project will generate and it will be a wonderful cross cultural experience for everybody.