Valentina Pastrana home from her ballet class at The Washington Ballet on the staircase of the residence.
Nohra Pastrana’s most rewarding accomplishments include founding a mobile system of “ludotecas” (toy libraries) – vans which travel the Colombian countryside sharing donated games and toys with rural children who might otherwise never encounter modern pastimes. “This program is very important to me,” she explains, “and it has spread to other countries, so it’s vital that I continue to work on it, and that I find a way in Washington to promote it and to share it with others.”
Senora Pastrana is also looking forward to expanding her own philanthropic horizons. “It’s crucial that we continue to find new programs for our country, for example, one that we call “Computadores para Educacion” (Computers for Education) that came from Canada has been a great success. It’s very important for me to find programs like that in the United States to take back to Colombia.” True to her word, during the past five months Nohra has become involved in a number of local philanthropies, serving on the committees of the Phillips Collection Gala and the CARE Foundation Gala while also maintaining the Colombian Embassy’s longstanding relationship with the Washington National Opera. Reflecting upon the positive aspects of public life, she says, “What I have really loved is to be able to work with people who need help,” adding, “Andres and I, we complement each other in that we really do like to work for the same thing.”
