Final preparations and saying goodbye
Once Upon a Saga:
It has been a long road in regards to preparation of this project and now the time to embark is almost here.
I owe many great people a lot of thanks for their time and effort regarding making this project a reality. The project began in early 2013 when I had brunch with Ann-Christina Salquist who listened to my dreams of traveling the World. She immediately got serious and said: "we can make this happen". She has been an amazing support and energy to have around. Soon after Søren Vestergaard Kristensen came onboard and helped me develop the concept as well as build up the blog. Finally I was lucky enough to invite Parth Nilawar into the project. I met him a few years ago in Bangladesh and he just so happened to be in Copenhagen right now.
Ann-Christina, Søren, Parth and I are the main core of this project. The energy, commitment, fountain of ideas and network of those 3 is PRICELESS. So I have not paid them for their efforts :) No; jokes aside they were willing to help build this project from the bottom up and they never asked for anything else than to be a part of it. Gratefulness does not even begin to cover my emotions.
Many other have participated and all in all "I get by with a little help from my friends". I was very surprised when I arranged a small 'farewell get together' and anticipated that we would be only a handful of people there. Around 25 friends arrived!! Bliss!
Sponsorship
Sponsorship is a tricky thing but through solid business relations the Norwegian company Ross Offshore stepped up and offered to sponsor the entire project with a fixed monthly amount. A week later the Danish branch, Ross Engineering, did the same and the project was a reality. Soon after that Nimbus Nordic entered the scene and offered to sponsor jackets. Konceptas and Kameli agreed to do the blog and webdesign and Berghaus agreed to send whatever they could spare regarding pants and various clothing. Amazing!
Danish Red Cross
Today the Red Cross is present in 187 countries World wide. It is the largest humanitarian network and it turned 150 years old this year. It was when I discovered these facts that I saw the connection between the Red Cross and our project. We approached the Danish Red Cross and they immediately saw potential. I am not an employee of the Danish Red Cross. Neither will this project receive any funding from the organization. This is a pure and simple way of working together in a sort of partnership. 'Once Upon a Saga' will throughout the project be in contact with and supply stories to Red Cross from around the World. This is to remind the World that the Red Cross is always present.