Now six Parramatta Eels are in the heart of Africa.

Eels chief executive officer Paul Osborne and five players including NSW Origin recruit Justin Poore are on a charity mission for Hope: Rwanda.

The group will spend a week in the capital city of Kigali, building houses for widows and orphans of the 1994 genocide in which one million people were killed in 100 days.

The sneakers will be given to the children.

Other players on the mission are Joel Reddy, Joe Galuvao, Tim Mannah and Matt Keating.

Nathan Hindmarsh's partner Bonnie Scott and one of Osborne's daughters has also made the trip.

Meanwhile, Kevin Kingston has agreed to a one-year contract with the Penrith Panthers.

``It's nice to be wanted, Penrith are a very strong club,'' said the Cronulla reject who became a key member of Parramatta's romantic run to the NRL grand final this season.

``Parramatta tried every avenue to keep me and I was blown away by the support I received,'' he said of other Eels' offers to drop payments so Parramatta could fit him under the salary cap.

``But Ian Schubert said no,'' he said of the NRL's auditing officer assessing Kingston as a $110,000-a-season man.

Kingston said he wouldn't be receiving that but a base $50,000 contract at Penrith because of their own salary cap problems.

The father of a one-year-old son, 26-year-old Kingston said although his nominal value might now be high it wouldn't be reflected in his wallet, and his wife would still work.

Still, Kingston said he couldn't be disappointed with how things had panned out.

``I couldn't have imagined this season in my wildest dreams,'' he said. ``It was a privilege to be part of such a great team.''

Penrith coach Matthew Elliott said Kingston's arrival would be ``a massive positive''.

``He buzzed them up a bit when he came on in the second half and he has that grand-final experience now,'' he said of Kingston.

SCOREBOARD: Cricket: P'matta 221 v Sutherland 3-81 Blacktown 154 v Easts 3-178

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