Zimele adds local flavour to the first international Australian Rules match between Tanzania and Kenya

ON FRIDAY, June 24, ­Tanzania and Kenya will do battle in an international Australian rules clash and there’s a distinct local ­flavour about the contest.

s51pp555 zimele Picture: Supplied

On FRIDAY, June 24, ­Tanzania and Kenya will do battle in an international Australian rules clash and there’s a distinct local ­flavour about the contest.

The match will be played as part of the Zimele ­Sporting Exchange and will see a party of 28 boys and 28 girls from a Tanzanian school visiting a similar school in Kenya for a sporting and cultural exchange.

The sporting exchange is the brainchild of St Kevin’s teacher Tom Purcell who created Zimele after a visit to South Africa in 2008 for a two-week conference that examined the legacy of the apartheid regime.

At the conference, Purcell was moved by the story of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko who died in police custody. Biko had formed an organisation called Zimele, which comes from the Zulu word for ‘stand on your own two feet’.

When he returned to ­Australia, Purcell adopted Biko’s catch cry and set about creating a Zimele ­program here with the aim of raising the funds that would help improve the ­dignity of individuals and communities in Africa through the empowerment of education and to assist with basic health needs.

Since then Zimele has run annual immersions to Africa where Australians visit the continent and ­immerse themselves in ­African culture while ­assisting with areas like education and health.

As part of the trips, ­kicking the footy around has  proven  to  be  a ­great icebreaker.

“We’ve been going over every year and kicking the ball around,” Purcell said.

“This year we’ve arranged a match between Tanzania and Kenya. And, that’s ­pretty special.

“We’ll be taking the ­Tanzanian kids out of their village for the first time in their lives, some of them out of their own street.”

Students from Sinon ­College in Tanzania will visit Kenya’s Brother ­Beausang. There they will stay with the Brother Beausang community for a four-day cultural and sporting exchange, the boys playing football and the girls netball and volleyball.

“We thought it was really good that girls were involved,” Purcell said.

The Zimele immersion party is made up of former St Kevin’s and Korowa ­students, university students, nurses and teachers.

“Anyone over the age of 18, who wants to get ­immersed in African culture,” Purcell said.

To find out more about the work carried out by the ­organisation, visit zimele.org