NOTE: I am covering travel expenses. Any donations will go 100% to the local organizations

I am headed to Africa in June 2026 as a volunteer for Scottish Football for Rwanda. This would be for my "other job" as a goalkeeper coach... 😊

The trip serves multiple purposes incl.

- Working with local teams, schools and community groups (of all ages, gender and ability)

- Working with local coaches to help develop grassroots organizations

- Raising funds for equipment and to help improve local facilities

As a goalkeeper coach, I hope to compliment the other coaches on the trip, since the majority tend to be outfield coaches.

Why Scottish?

The Scottish FA's coach education was my pathway to earning the UEFA C Diploma 2 years ago (and is where I hope to earn the UEFA Goalkeeping B Diploma next). Similar to how I volunteer as a coach for local organizations where we live in Waltham, MA, this gives me a chance to volunteer and give back globally on behalf of an organization to which I owe a lot.

Why Football (aka Soccer...)?

It may seem silly at first to focus on football/soccer in a part of the world that deals with far bigger problems. However, when we visited our son's birth family in Ethiopia in 2024, I had the chance to see the impact little things can have.

Among the gifts we brought for the family were some soccer balls. They already had enough used equipment for the older kids in the village to have a team, but only one worn-out ball. Our son's 11-year-old biological brother, Bereket, was so excited when he was able to get one of the new balls, since it allowed him to get the younger kids in the village together and form another team.

It was a powerful reminder that while most of us may not be able to change the world, we can still make a positive difference to people in relatively simple ways.

Why Rwanda?

The genocide in Rwanda in 1994 will be forever etched in my memory after reading Philip Gourevitch's incredible book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda."

Rwanda has come a long way since, and this is a chance for me to contribute, experience an amazing culture and people, and learn about the recent past by visiting some of the genocide memorials.

Why Me?

I usually refer to our family as “4 People, 4 Continents” since we were all born in different countries (US, Denmark, China and Ethiopia) before ending up as one family in the US.

Coming from a multi-national family, this is an opportunity that I felt I had to take. My wife did volunteer work previously (both Lesotho and Rwanda), and I would love to set a good example for others including my own kids.

Volunteering for the trip also aligns perfectly with my values that are heavily influenced by growing up in Denmark. In many ways nicely summed up by the inscription on my Danish national team replica jersey:

That is my story, and I am sticking with it... :)

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