WINDHOEK
For 20 years now, the football and athletics association of Westphalia (FLVW) have enjoyed a close partnership with Namibia.
More than 150 guests from Westphalia, Germany and of course the invitation to Sportcentrum Kamen Kaiserau and their Namibian counterparts converged last Friday to celebrate the anniversary.
“What started out in the youth field with a pure soccer exchange, now has many ramifications and has developed in recent years to a development project further”, host and FLVW president Hermann Korfmacher looked back on two decades of intensive partnership and friendship.
Korfmacher Willi Scheuerl said, the 1995 “sowed the seeds of the tree partnership” with the former director Klaus-Dieter Roszak, who is now cherished by FLVW, Vice President Manfred Deister and many other people.
Numerous music, dance and conversation deposits made for a colorful entertainment programme, which was moderated by entertaining WDR 2 “League Live” voice Sven Pistor. Michael Elsing, who among other things together with Schalke’s Julian Draxler national player in the squad of Westphalia selection to Namibia in 2010 told of his impressive experience from the southwest African country.
The current Namibian national player Veweziwa “Vewe” Kotjipati and former Namibian international Collin Benjamin, who played for the Hamburger SV and TSV 1860 München in Germany in the Bundesliga, reported in the second block of the evening about their experiences.
“Germany has become a second home for me,” impressed Vewe playing for the second team of FSV Gütersloh in Westphalia League and also active as a trainer, entertained the audience with their descriptions. As for Vewe and Collin Benjamin, the sports school of FLVW was the first point of contact with Germany. “In Kaiserau everything started. This partnership and the associated people have influenced my career, “recalled Benjamin on his first visit to Westphalia mid-1990s.
Dagmar Freitag, Member of the German Parliament (Bundestag), Chairman of the Sports Committee and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag, praised in her speech the importance of the Westphalian-Namibian partnership, which is also reflected in the numerous attendees from near and far. These include in particular the guests from Namibia:
In addition to the U18 national team, who just completed a stay of several training sessions and friendly matches in Westphalia, Frans Mbidi and Bernhard Kaanjuka also came to Kaiserau.
Mbidi thanked Kaanjuka, Director Sports of the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture of the Republic of Namibia, for the dedication of all those involved in recent years. Markus Weidner, Head of Department of International Relations at the German Football Association (DFB), conveyed the greetings among others the DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach.
Spontaneous singing performance of the U18 national team, performances of Zumba Kids of FLVW-education work, songs of Iserlohn comprehensive school band “JAZZINATION” and a presentation of the Hagen Theodor-Heuss-Gymnasium, which has entered into partnerships with Namibian schools, rounded off the colorful evening in Sportcentrum form.
Before it went to the African buffet and a cozy Westphalian-Namibian evening, all guests were at the end of a unanimous view as “Vewe” its representative put it: “I hope we meet again in ten, 20 and perhaps even 40 years and together can celebrate the next big anniversary of our friendship. “