Touraid

More about Touraid

By promoting tours to the UK by rugby-playing children, touraid creates a catalyst for friendships and partnerships between hosts and tourists. The tourists may be orphans, former street children or simply live in poverty. By welcoming these children into their homes, clubs and schools the hosts develop bonds with their guests resulting in many of the schools, clubs and families concerned establishing a strong desire to maintain the relationship and to provide funding and other resources for the children’s educational, sporting and general welfare needs.

The touring children develop confidence (for many of them the acquisition of a passport is the first physical manifestation of their own individual identity), aspiration (their horizons widen) and social standing (they become role models amongst their peers). Hosting children gain an insight into the lives of their less fortunate guests - seeing for themselves the value of education, the right to family life and the essential dignity of these children, experiences not otherwise easily gained in the UK. High playing ability is not a prerequisite for participation – many of the hosts field mixed ability sides in order to ensure that a well matched game enhances further the non-playing benefits of the tour.