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The Hong Kong Rugby Union will this weekend host a series of activities under the auspices of their Community Foundation (HKRUCF), the charity arm of the Union established in 2013 to support Hong Kong Rugby’s variety of sport-for-development programmes in the community.
On Friday (24 June) ex-Scotland international lock forward Jim Hamilton, one of the HKRUCF Ambassadors, will help launch an exciting new primary school initiative, "Hong Kong's Rugby Spirit", at a ceremony at the Sir Ellis Kadoorie Primary School in So Kon Po.
This initiative, generously supported by UBS, seeks to use rugby as a medium to help promote positive values such as honesty, respect and teamwork amongst students.
Hamilton, who helped his club Saracens to both the English and European Championship titles this season, comes from a Hong Kong background and makes no secret that rugby helped give his life positive direction when a troubled teenager, making the 6ft 8inch giant an ideal spokesperson for the Foundation.
On Saturday another proud Foundation sponsor, Societe Generale, will host a Citizen Commitment Day at King's Park Sports Ground where they will entertain youngsters from Po Leung Kuk, the Hong Kong Society for the Protection of Children, ChickenSoup Foundation and the Hans Andersen Club for an afternoon of fun games and activities.
Societe Generale and the Foundation will also be announcing a partnership on several projects for the coming year, which will offer opportunities for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds to participate in community rugby programmes.
This week also sees the commencement of the second Foundation touch rugby course for young offenders at the Cape Collinson Correctional Institution, following on from last September's successful introduction, which saw eight weeks of rugby lessons delivered to incarcerated young offenders.
This week also sees the continuation of the promising partnership struck with Cambodia’s Krousar Thmey charity with 11 young deaf Cambodians arriving in Hong Kong today for a four-day tour that will include a day at a local deaf school, tag rugby matches with the Hong Kong deaf rugby team, and a much anticipated visit to Ocean Park.
This is the third interchange between the HKRUCF and Krousar Thmey, following an initial visit to Hong Kong in 2014 and a memorable return trip to Phnom Penh last year sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank.
The Cambodian NGO was founded in 1991 and is focused on integrating underprivileged children into society. They are the only organisation offering comprehensive education for deaf children, and actually developed the Khmer sign language used by the youngsters to communicate. They have received many awards for their work over the years, including the World of Children Humanitarian Award in 2012.
"All of us at the Union are incredibly proud of the work being done through the HKRUCF," explains Stuart Gunn the Inclusive Rugby Officer.
"We are focused on using sport to help tackle issues in the areas of health, education, disability, juvenile crime and social inclusion, and thanks to the generous support of our sponsors and partners such as VIVA, Chinese University and the British Council we believe we're making a positive contribution to our society,” Gunn added.
