Michael Dawson and Matthew Upson visit SOS Children's Village.

England pair Michael Dawson and Matthew Upson took a worthwhile break from their training schedule on Tuesday to pay a visit to a local orphanage close to the team’s base.

The SOS Children’s Village project in Rustenburg has seen homes built by the charity for local orphans who are raised and cared for by a group of mothers in groups of eight.

It gives the orphans that family environment that they might otherwise have missed out on. Most pleasingly for Dawson, his club Tottenham Hotspur have worked with the charity for several years and the trip gave him the chance to meet Aubrey, the 12-year-old who he has sponsored as part of the involvement with SOS.

"Luckily enough I got to meet Aubrey, I've only seen pictures of him over the last year but he's a great little lad and hopefully we can get more people to sponsor children like we have," said Dawson.

"It was an experience. We came a few years ago with Tottenham, but didn't get to go to the houses which The FA and Tottenham sponsor

Upson added: "The key to the success of it is the structure and how it's put together. It creates as normal a family environment for these children as they could get.

"It was a really rewarding experience."

FATV's Tim Lovejoy caught up with both of them after the trip and you can hear and see more about the players’ visit to the village now, by clicking on the video link to the right.