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A Texas woman escaped injury Wednesday after a fire gutted her home and destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of handmade lingerie she'd just brought back from West Africa to sell for charity.
"It's one of those moments I have to kind of put my hands up and thank God I'm still alive," Tara Smith told NBCDFW.com.
The sound of the smoke alarm startled Smith from sleep about 2 a.m. Flames were shooting through a vent in the living room of her home in Irving, northwest of Dallas. She tried to put out the fire, but it spread quickly, she said. Smith managed to escape from the home, suffering minor burns.
“I’m not sure where I will go from here,” Smith told NBCDFW.com. “Everything is like burned.”
Fire officials have not determined the fire's cause.
Just four hours earlier, Smith had returned home from a month-long mission trip to Africa. She returned home with thousands of dollars’ worth of lingerie handmade by villagers in West Africa. Smith planned to sell the clothing through a nonprofit and fair trade business. Money raised would have helped fund development projects and employ seamstresses in Cameroon. Smith said her goal is to help women worldwide to start businesses to sustain their families.
"We are still in shock,” Smith’s mother, Lynette Nadeau, told NBCDFW.com.
Smith stayed hopeful, fighting back tears as she spoke with NBCDFW.com.
“I'm just holding on to my faith right now,” Smith said.
NBCDFW.com's Kendra Lyn and NBC News' Sevil Omer contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
That West African lingerie must be hot.
Handmade lingerie?
What were they made with, Longhorn hide? Well, it is TX after all..
Edible lingeries, now Flammables from Africa. What they gonna think of next? :D
That was probably the best lie she could come up with ... (no one brings back lingerie from Africa without expecting to make a buck from it.) ~ How'd she sell that? Underwear profits go for the under-privlidged? Bras for bums? Thongs for thugs?
Give me a break. She was going to hock that stuff - but it would have been discovered in the fire/ guess she thought trying to look like a philanthropist was better than looking like a scammer?
I know these people personally and they do a lot of good in the world. You should be ashamed of saying such hateful things about someone going through so much!
Nancy you have to be joking...or an avid Redditor. Give yourself a break and feel a little humility.
Nancy, you should really be ashamed of yourself! My daughter has committed her life to helping these people of West Africa. If God asked you what have you done to help the less fortunate people of this world? Could you tell Him that you spent 2 years of your life volunteering & teaching in the Peace Corp? You headed a water well project providing clean water for a village of people? You started a non-profit charity that provided solar power to an orphanage, school & emergency center? You created a non-profit company that will provide jobs & business opportunities for struggling women? My daughter has done all this & more!
To answer your question, yes this lingerie will be sold for money. All of the profits go back to charity or providing business loans for women in that region. You should try searching Cherie Amie, they have a website & you will find news articles explaining how all this works. I'm sure you will have a change of heart, you might even be inspired to do something yourself.
Also, I hope you never have to experience what we just went through, or receive a dropped call hearing your child screaming for her life. If not for the smoke detectors, my angel may not have made it out of the fire. Maybe you have a hard time believing that there are good people in this world, I can tell you first hand about one young lady making a difference.
Why must you all be so negative? Have a little empathy! I know Tara and she was helping out seamstresses in Cameroon by making the lingerie there and having in sold here in the US.
She lived in Cameroon and loves the people there and has been working extremely hard to try and help them. This project would have ended up creating hundreds of jobs for women living in poverty.
my question is, as bad as things are for her, they are still much worse for the women in Cameroon. Is anyone stepping up to help THEM now that all their hard work is up in smoke?
Are you stepping up to help anyone? It is easy to judge..walk a day in these people's shoes, then judge.
The best laid plans of mice, men and philanthropists goes up in smoke of underwear made from non-flame-retarded cloth. It would have been worse if the underwear caught on fire while an unsuspecting teen was wearing them.
You mean pre-teen. American teens are too fat to fit into African clothing.
I cant believe some of the heartless comments. A lot of hard work was put into this and I cant wait to see what was lost rebuilt bigger and better! She and those working with her ARE doing something to help those in Camaroon...that is part of the point. Im sorry to hear about the loss but happy to see their spirits are still up and they dont plan on letting this get in the way of the goal.