Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)
Peter Temba
26 May 2011
Moshi — THE Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ezekiel Maige on Monday flagged off a ‘Let’s Climb to the Summit’ expedition by a group of 59 sportspersons from the USA and Mexico, who came into the country to introduce American Football.
The sports persons are from the Drake University Bulldogs from Des Moines, Iowa in the United States of America and the CONADEIP All-Stars of Mexico are currently on their way to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa.
“Tanzania is most honoured and proud that the ‘Global Kilimanjaro Bowl,’ the first collegiate game of American football to be played on African soil, has brought to our country the players, their families and team supporters,” he told 59 visitors who began the climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro Mountain through the Machame Gate.
He said what has made the Kilimanjaro Bowl really special was that the student athletes came to Tanzania to show the world that American football was not just about winning the game but about sportsmanship that goes with it.
“All of you have shown the best of sportsmanship in all the volunteer projects that you have taken as part of your Tanzania safari, following the Swahili motto you adopted for the Kili Bowl experience, ‘Tupande Kileleni’ or ‘Let’s Climb the Summit’ and in this case the summit of doing good for others,” the minister noted.
He commended the two teams for providing free American football clinics as well as for their assistance building orphanages and schools, thanking them also for the publicity and promotion that the Kili Bowl has generated for ‘Destination Tanzania’ both in the print and electronic media around the world.
“I would be remiss if I did not mention Patrick Steenberge, the President of Global American Football, who worked tirelessly with his entire team and coaches for bringing the 20th Global Footbal match and this vision of leaving behind good will through good deeds in the local communities that you have all touched in Tanzania,” Maige concluded.
In the game played at the Sheikh Amri Abeid Memorial Stadium in Arusha on Saturday, the Iowa-based Drake University Bulldogs (USA) thrashed the combined CONADEIP All Stars (Mexico) 17-7. The game marked the first ever American Football to be played in Africa.
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