Traverse Beyond

25/06/2026

Day 2 of gorilla trekking. Nothing short of amazing.

Shorter hike today but just as powerful as yesterday. We found the family and the little ones were absolutely rambunctious. Wrestling. Tumbling. Playing. Just pure joy in the middle of the jungle.

Watching baby gorillas just be babies is something I cannot fully put into words. They are so present. So human.

Two days in and I keep thinking the same thing. You can read about this. You can watch the documentaries. You can see the photos.

It is not the same. Not even close.

So grateful to be here. So grateful to share this with this group. 🌍✨

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21/06/2026

693 students and parents. One field. One day. 🇷🇼

It’s Day 5 and I don’t have words for what today felt like. I am going to try anyway.

Olympic Day with Kids Play International was something I will carry with me for a long time. The energy when all those students came through that opening ceremony was the kind of thing that gets into your chest and stays there. Kids showing up fully. Present. Proud. Ready. 🤍

I got to sit down with Tracy Evans, the founder of KPI, and hear her talk about what this organization is really about and how she found this community to work with. Tracy is someone I am lucky to call a friend. But hearing her tell that story in Rwanda, on the ground where the work is actually happening, hit completely differently.

This is what it looks like when someone finds their purpose and refuses to let go of it.

And then we introduced Pickleball to Rwanda. 🏓

The kids loved it. Of course they did. Watch out world.

The day closed with a ceremonial dance from the local community and I just stood there taking it all in. The movement, the music, the joy. A community that has been through so much choosing to show up like this.

19/06/2026

Day 2. Rwanda. 🇷🇼

This day held more than I expected.

We started the morning at the Kigali Genocide Memorial. There is a saying here. Never again. And standing in that space you feel the full weight of those two words. It was heavy. It was necessary. It was a reminder of what humans are capable of at their worst.

And then something shifted.

We made our way to Amahoro Stadium for the Kids Play International Fair and I watched an entire group of adults remember how to play. 🤍

Baseball. Frisbee. An obstacle course. And that beautiful moment at the beginning where everyone kind of looks around trying to decide if they are actually going to jump in. And then one person goes. And then another. And then suddenly we were all in, every single rotation, laughing and moving and completely present.

There is something we talk about in leadership — not taking things too seriously. But to actually physically play again? That is a completely different thing. It gets into your body in a way that no conversation ever could.

And then I looked around at that field. Rwandan coaches. Former Olympians. Someone from the US Embassy. Our group of volunteers. And kids everywhere in between. All of us in the same rotations, playing the same games, completely equal on that field. 🇷🇼

The resilience of this place. Wow.

It went from the heaviest morning to the lightest afternoon. And somehow both were exactly what I needed.