The origin of our name

Have you ever wondered where we got our name?

In the mist of the Ebola epidemic in October 2014, we watched a country Jessi and I had grown to love from previous work.

We knew that Ebola was a virus, and we knew and respected that it needed to be contained and eliminated. We also knew that communities were living in fear, and children were left behind in the chaos. 

I, as an art therapist, know that if you provide a child and adult with an expressive outlet to play and explore, a person's immune system becomes stronger and they build hope and strength. Jessi and I both agreed that there must be a way to bring this into Liberia.

Jessi and I spent many nights wondering if there was any possibility of bringing play and art into a country ravaged by a deadly epidemic, and when we decided to dive in, the question became, what do we name our effort?

We realized that our mission was to teach how play and art can truly save lives, so Playing to Live! slipped off our tongues as soon as the question arose. 

We didn't realize how fast and big we would become. We didn't realize that the Liberian people would take our mission and make it their own. We didn't realize that in a mere year, we would have data that proved that expressive art and play are life saving. We couldn't have foreseen moving our program to South Africa and the opportunities that are arising today. All we could see was that children deserve to play and create, and we were going to do everything in our power to make it happen, and it did happen. 

The image you see above is a reminder of that mission. As much as I try to value my own mission, I fall into the everyday pressures and stresses of running a business, going to school, and being human. I choose work over play more times than not. My friends and mountain family at Industry Nine have been a constant reminder of play to me throughout this journey. I ride their wheels on my mountain bike wherever I am in this world as a reminder of where my home is at.

Today as I picked up my new wheels, I saw this beautiful image, but it is so more than an image, this is OUR image. This image and this name represents so much to me, to our team, and to communities around the world, and now I have this incredible reminder every time I touch my bike, that by playing, laughing, and enjoying life, I am able to live and thrive in all that I do. 

Go play! Go laugh! The world can wait for just a second for you to live and thrive. 

Alexis