The weather is a great leveller and ultimate decider of any outdoor event.  Our launch was planned to happen in a wonderful amphitheatre in Philippi. The tent guys came saw it and thought it would be great, our builder checked it and saw where he could hang a screen for the audiovisuals we wanted to display. And then it rained, and it rained, and it rained some more and the amphitheatre was no longer a viable option. We spoke to one of our neighbours who has a large warehouse and thought that perhaps with a few metres of organza we could turn it into something great, except that the neighbour could not curtail his operations for the afternoon so back to the drawing board.

We sourced and got the best deal from the tent guys, Nomadiktents, who came to the party in such a big way and let us have the tent at no charge. We then searched and found Urbantonic who amazingly supplied us with glasses, plates, jugs and outdoor heaters once again at no cost. Things were starting to come together. We now had a tent and the crockery but nothing to drink or eat, to the rescue came Peninsula Beverages and Quali Juice who between them supplied all the drinks.

Those wonderful kids and their inspiring teachers at the School of Hope did our catering at a great price. Frenetic practising then took place by our IT Facilitators kindly guided by Sue Diepeveen who also assisted our amazing orator KT who started off with “I don’t want to do this” and then continued to do the longest talk in history. Thanks also go to the Director of Education who delivered a thought provoking speech, to our founder and CEO who eloquently informed all of our story, and to the guys from Streetwise who very kindly handed over a set of their computers to one lucky school.

The day arrived, the sun shone, all of the team were where they were expected to be, the Marimba Band arrived and then so did the guests, some on time, some in another time zone and some not at all. All of the planning and preparation resulted in a great event far exceeding many of the guests expectations, methinks some of them thought we operated from a container...

Don't forget to visit the gallery for more photos.