Christmas Season is very important for our culture, and in certain aspects not much different than other cultures around the globe: it is a time to get closer to each other, to show and demonstrate friendship and appreciation. In Colombia we celebrate with an added value ingredient: the famous novenas. This tradition which began about 300 years ago, calls for community prayers at the same time, usually early evening hours during nine days prior the 24th of December. With time we added food and choirs, and if it is during a weekend, a reason to add live music, gifts and dance. Typical foods served during this Novenas are buñuelos, natillas, cakes, and nearly everything else which could be considered as snack food. Buñuelos are made from corn flour, cheese and fried in a spherical shape, while natillas are made of corn flour enriched with gel texture mixed with milk and put in the fridge.
It has been a tradition that we have kept alive at LBH Colombia, and in each office we take a short break at around 1630hours, operations permitted, for half hour to offer our prayers and songs to our Almighty and round it up with food and soft drinks. Normally we end up celebrating only around 4 or 5 days of the Novenas and each day, a department or group of people within each office is assigned to arrange it. Creativity is at its best to surprise the rest of the colleagues but in a non competitive atmosphere. Of course, we try hard not to worry about the weight scale during such festivities.
Usually it is also during such time when we at LBH Colombia try to coordinate the end of the year dinner celebration, again, each office takes care of its own team. It is a special opportunity for dressing up, offering speeches, and recognition to the people who deserve it, either by way of outstanding performance achieved, or by reaching a certain seniority in the company. During last year, we delivered such recognition to:
Mónica Collante, our Operations Assistant at Santa Marta, for 25 years of dedication to this company.
Jorge Perez, our leader for Santa Marta-Brisa operations, for 20 years of dedication to this company.
Yesenia Orozco, our leader for Administration and Human Resources area, Danilo García, port supervisor at Drummond Port, Jose Luis Romerín, port supervisor at Drummond Port, and Fernando de la Rosa, port supervisor at our Coveñas office, all for 15 years of dedication.
Leo Bonilla, port supervisor at Drummond Port for 10 years of service and dedication to this company.
We certainly appreciate very much their continued support, service, and loyalty.This is the way we round up the year, regardless of the result. It is also an opportunity to start thinking about the year ahead, and how to correct our weak points and improve our strong points, both at personal and professional levels.
We believe that Christmas season and the Novenas facilitates connections among our teams, and helps recirculating our own energy. A special way to celebrate and appreciate life.