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Hugely successful trip to Rwanda by the Parramatta Eels!



Photo: Taking a rest from work at the Village: Joe Galuvao, Tim Mannah, Matt Keating, Justin Poore, Joel Reddy, Joey Paulo and two boys who currently live in the Village of Hope. Photo: Bonnie Scott.




Last week the Hope Rwanda 'Eels in Rwanda' team returned from Africa after an emotion-filled and overwhelming trip of a lifetime. Matt Keating told Sports Tonight, "every NRL team should do this!"

The trip was full of excitement and new experiences as the players were introduced to a completely alternate way of life for the vast majority of the Rwandan people. Also they were given insight into the 1994 genocide when over 1 million people were murdered in 100 days by visiting the Kigali Genocide Memorial and Nyamata Church an actual site of killing with skulls and clothes still remaining inside the church as a reminder to the carnage. Many of the players and team were moved beyond words and closely holding back tears as new friends recounted their stories inside that very church.


Classroom (Justin Poore, Matt Keating, Joey Paulo, Tim Mannah, Joel Reddy and the P1 class at Sonrise School, Ruhengeri, Rwanda) Photo by Molly Feltner.


Building in Village of Hope: Joey Paulo, Tim Mannah, Joel Reddy.Photo: Bonnie Scott

The hard work continued over three days of laboring to lay over 2000 mud bricks to build two new houses in the Village of Hope for widows of the genocide. This was a highlight as the boys were able to get to know the local workers and the inhabitants of the Village. They practiced their Kinyarwanda on the people in the Village - much to the Rwandan's delight and amusement as the well-meaning words didn't always translate as the boys intended.

A must when traveling to Rwanda is to see a gorilla family in the wild in the Volcano's National Park. The team were able to trek into the jungle to spend an hour watching a family of gorilla's play and wrestle in their natural habitat. Some of the players admittedly had moments of panic when a young male silverback ran past them within one meter of where they were standing on his way to something that interested him.

As a team, the Eels had arranged over 1000 children's shoes to be donated by Asics and Rebel Sport to Sonrise School. The boys had an opportunity to tell all the children that would be receiving new shoes and were able to fit one of the P1 classes (6yrs) with their very own new sports shoes (see photo). The students of Sonrise are primarily orphans and disadvantaged children who are taken in to board at the school from an age of around six years old to ensure that the next generation of Rwandan children are well equipped to lead their country. The children honoured the guests by a Rwandan take on 'Waltzing Matilda'.

As far as media coverage is concerned we have been on all the major Australian TV channels. (Foxsports, Seven, Nine, Ten, ABC) as well as featured in a great segment on the nationally viewed Sports Tonight, in addition to featuring in most major Sydney newspapers. Please find below some links to articles and pictures of the trip:

Helping Rwanda one family at a time
By Nick Walshaw in Kigali. The Daily Telegraph October 28, 2009

NRL stars building hope in Rwanda
By Nick Walshaw in Rwanda. The Daily Telegraph October 30, 2009

Measure of a human tragedy
By Nick Walshaw. The Daily Telegraph October 31, 2009



This trip follows on from a trip last year in October 2008, where a similar team of six NRL players, a journalist from the Daily Telegraph and a camera crew, went to Rwanda to work in the Village of Hope and to film a documentary. The team included stars like Nathan Hindmarsh and Justin Poore and was led by Rugby League legend Paul Osborne. This has resulted in many mutually beneficial media opportunities for the NRL, the players and HOPE Rwanda. A documentary was made an aired on FoxSports and currently on the Australian Christian Channel.

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