GRACE Hamilton is ready to fall in love with rugby all over again.

Not that the Wallaroo has lost any passion for the game, but when she heads to Zambia later this month to work with Livingstone Rugby Club, she knows she will see the real impact rugby can have on a community and the people within it.

She will work with girls’ rugby teams there running clinics and training sessions and do community service work with a local school.

Players like Lote Tuqiri and Stephen Hoiles have been in previous years, now Hamilton hopes her visit will help change the lives of young girls in Africa.

“A few people I know have been before and say it’s very eye opening but they say it will make you fall in love with rugby again, which is great.

“I know with working fulltime and training fulltime, sometimes it’s a lot, but they say I’ll fall in love with the game again.

“To see the people over there be so excited by having you there; how giving something to them puts a smile on their face in their regards to sport.”

The Livingstone Rugby Club Zambia Trust began four years ago when Paul Adams spoke to people at Rugby Australia and his good friend George Gregan about doing something in Zambia to support the work of the Tag Rugby Trust out of the UK.

Adams, Gregan and a few others went over and hatched the idea of starting a rugby club there that could engage with locals not just around rugby but also as a community hub that could educate and deliver programs — such as AIDS clinics or breastfeeding classes — that would benefit everyone.

They tour annually and train people in their late teens to continue the work while they’re not there.

This year they are supporting Happy Africa Foundation’s The Girl Impact program (a partner charity), which aims to change the future for girls through six areas of education, health, early pregnancy, safety, making a living and self confidence.

It’s about using rugby as the starting point to help on bigger issues.

“This year because they have this girls’ impact program they want to drive women’s sport over there because some of those girls by the time they’re 14 they’re in harm’s way, health-wise,” Hamilton said.

That female focus will be there long-term too.

“Girls there have a pretty rough trot as it is,” Adams said.

“Then these girls tend to come from even harder homeship situations. So we created a program with Happy Africa and they got involved in rugby and they now use the rugby club as a bit of a safe zone.”