The Power of Connecting People!

Vebjørn Sand & Yerkin Akhinzhanov yesterday (Photo: Ilyas Omarov)

Yesterday, Ambassador Yerkin Akhinzhanov and several diplomatic team members from the Embassy of Kazakstan to Norway visited the magnificent Rose Castle in the forest on the Holmenkollen Hill overlooking Oslo.

The world artist Vebjørn Sand, who created the Rose Castle with his brother Eimund and team in 2019-20,  received the Ambassador at 6:00pm to give a tour of the Rose Castle area, which is the size of two football pitches.

This event took place upon the initiative of Pastor Jan-Aage Torp, who has built an excellent relationship with Ambassador Yerkin since 2019, and just two weeks ago he also spent several hours with Vebjørn Sand at the Rose Castle to make two Norwegian and one English television programs for his premiere weekly TV show, «Hovedstaden med Pastor Torp».

Jan-Aage says: - I was at the Kazakh Embassy on Wednesday for a planning meeting with Ambassador Yerkin and members of his diplomatic team. I suddenly asked him if he had ever been to the Rose Castle, and to my surprise, he had not been told about this. So while we were talking in his office, I put on the loudspeaker of my iphone and immediately called Vebjørn, who on the spot invited the Ambassador!

Jan-Aage adds: - This shows the power of friendship, trust, and connecting people!

Ambassador Yerkin Akhinzhanov posted last night several photos, and wrote passionately:

«The Rose Castle is an amazing human-centric installation which reminds us of what happened in Norway during the WW2. We highly appreciate this noble endeavon, ewjr. People in Kazakhstan also carefully keep memories of their past as it gives us the strength to face the present and look into the future. Our nation survived many storms and paid its heavy price which made us strong, advocating for human dignity, cultural tolerance, disarmament and global peace.

I thank our hosts - Vebjørn Sand and Tone Helen Hansen for a great tour at the Rose Castle 2020 and also for some ideas which we may materialize together.»