Dance For Colombia

Jun 22, 2017
3 min read

Exactly one month left until I dash off to Bogota… It’s starting to feel real and it’s making me slightly nervous, in a good exciting way.

I’m a tiny bit worried about not meeting / exceeding “Teach for Colombia”‘s expectations….

To proof to Nico (my Teach for Colombia mentor) and Eva (my CS mentor) that they did make the right decision in choosing me for the project, I felt an urge to kick start the assignment with something I feel comfortable with doing and know I can shine at… organizing events…

I didn’t have much time to organize the event so a fundraising drink in Canary Wharf (5 min from work) seemed appropriate.

My first choice was the Bothy a lovely restaurant and bar in a former warehouse with riverside terrace near the office.

I mainly dealt with Ella Bell, the Sales & Events manager who did an excellent job.

The Bothy was extremely generous.

Not only did their bar manager Piettro, aka the best mixologist on the street, create a special Colombian Cocktail for us! The Bothy agreed on donating £2 of each cocktail sold on the night!

As soon as I sent the invite out, I had colleagues offering to help and coming up with suggestions to raise more money, what an amazing feeling!

I found out my COO Marina, seemed to have a hidden talent nobody knew about…

She is not only a great business manager; apparently she is also a beautiful singer and acoustic guitar player…

Marina offered to play a couple of songs for us to animate the fundraising event.

Marina was the main reason so many people came down to the “Dance for Colombia” evening!

She was the real star of the evening, I cannot thank her enough!

Marina on YouTube.

My friend and colleague Cristina offered to organize a raffle to raise more money.

She did an incredible job! The raffle tickets were copies of books like “The Lord of the Rings” by Tolkien and Virginai Woolf's "Mrs Dalloway".

Thank you to all who participated to the raffle on Wednesday night.

I am proud to present …. The winners!

First raffle prize goes to….. Gary!

Lovely dinner for two at the Bothy restaurant.

Sponsored by the Bothy.

Second raffle prize goes to…. Joel!

A bottle of rum donated by Duppy Share Rum!

And the third prize… my favorite… a box of Charbonnel & Walker champagne truffles goes to... Eva!

“Dance For Colombia” was a successful event, even if I say it myself!

But the numbers do speak for themselves.

In total we managed to sell an impressive amount of cocktails … 91 Colombian rum cocktails!

As the Bothy donated £2 for each cocktail sold on the night, we raised £182!

We didn’t do too badly at the raffle either!

We raised £300.

This means we managed to get a total of £482 on the night!

This definitely exceeded my expectations and I am extremely satisfied!

Absolutely loved it how my friends and colleagues got into the Colombian spirit with me!

Some of them even got properly carried away….

For some reason they seem to believe Colombian men wear moustaches… ALL OF THEM*… so in line with the “Dance For Colombia”-theme, they tried to blend in…. this was the result: