For one evening every year, WBFN members gather 
to celebrate the year past and to look ahead to the future. In a festive atmosphere, members and their spouses mingle and chat among themselves and with the various WBG staff and outside professionals who have supported our organization and have collaborated with us throughout the year.
This year’s theme was “Stepping Into the 21st Century”, a clear allusion to the reorganization of our office systems and the revamping of our website. In this spirit, it was befitting that the president of the WBG, Robert Zoellick, who was traveling abroad, addressed the audience through a . New technology is amazing and if you were unable to attend the dinner I enjoin you to visit our website and listen to him praising WBFN’s work and congratulating it volunteers on their reach and their achievements. Click to watch the video.
You should have been there to partake of the warm and lively atmosphere! Friends were happy to see each other but also took time to meet newcomers and to make new friends. Seated around tables beautifully adorned with exotic flower arrangements (thank you Naava and Madina!) they engaged in lively conversations and reluctantly ceased to talk when speeches started.
They laughed and clapped when past president Chantale Holzmann was handed as a farewell gift an 
Art Book entitled “Women Who Read Are Dangerous.” They cheered when the most active volunteers were recognized in the speeches. They listened with awe to the singing of Annemarie Brink Olsen, our own WBFN nightingale, who enchanted us with a Scottish ballad. They greeted warmly the 10 MMMF recipients selected this year. They followed with interest Hilary Welch’s account of a shipment of books to Sudan that almost never made it to destination.
In short, it was a great evening that concluded with the formal presentation of Anne Folliet’s Executive Committee that will take over in July 2009. What a great sight to see all these new faces eager to carry on WBFN’s mission and ready to work hard to maintain our network of support!
As we stood up to take our leave from each other and from our guests, the MMMF recipients started a circular song and dance on the side, near the podium. Before long, they were joined by many among us and for a good twenty minutes the reception hall echoed the jubilant sounds of people dancing and singing. What a great way to celebrate the end of a great year!
Rula Ghani