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iDebate Rwanda
Click on the following
link to view footage and photos of our Rwandan trip.
The reason for this first-time visit to Africa was that
I had been surprisingly invited to join a small team from the Central London
Debating Society in carrying out debating training in Rwanda. The opportunity
was certainly too good to miss!
The background to this debate-training visit was
the fact that, as we all probably remember, Rwanda was the scene of a
horrifying mass genocide back in 1994. Some 800,000 people in this very small
African country were killed. The recovery and development since that time had
been remarkable in terms of education, politics and economic performance, and
was continuing apace. One unexpected initiative had been the sudden and
remarkable emergence of school debating as the country rebuilds its structures
for a more successful future. And it was this debating development that led to
the invitation by the IDebate NGO of Rwanda to a
small team of 4 debaters and speakers from the Central London Debating Society
to train approximately 200 students in Rwanda’s first-ever Debating Camp.
Our duties while we were there were to help teach
debating, to judge debating contests, and also to help in the development of
public speaking skills amongst the students. Looked at in one way, the routine
could be described as being somewhat challenging. Two weeks of rising from
under our mosquito nets at around 6 or 6.30 AM; preparing for the day in the
absence of hot water (and - at times - in the absence of electricity also);
being driven cautiously over largely un-made roads for an hour; class work for
six or rather more hours; and finally returning to our rudimentary ‘hotel’ at
around 9 PM for an early night’s sleep. However looked at from the correct
‘positive’ perception, challenging - certainly - but ¬it was an extraordinary
and totally pleasurable experience of a lifetime.
To see and share what we were doing, you may
perhaps like to read about the event through Google, or enjoy the scores of
photos on Facebook (find ‘Rwanda IDebate debate camp
2013’, and explore). Meanwhile I should like, in this brief report, to simply
write down a number of personal impressions.
So here goes. Firstly the countryside...
·
Despite the progress and modernisation
in the capital, Kigali, Rwanda remains a small and over-populated land of considerable
poverty, with most people still relying heavily on subsistence farming.
·
For me, as an African first-timer, it
remains largely the Africa of one’s imagination. A colourful landscape of rich vegetation
and one-room dwellings where the main item owned may well be the goat or goats
tethered just outside.
·
It is a landscape in which almost
everyone from the oldest (e.g. somewhere around 60) to school-age boys and
girls seem to work continuously on their patches of land, thereby meeting their
basic needs.
·
Rwanda is known as the "land of a
thousand hills" It has a good though somewhat sparse main road network
from its Belgian colonial days, with countless people walking along them, often
carrying large loads and - in the case of women - carrying these elegantly and
without any apparent difficulty on their heads.
·
The sign of success for many is owning
a bicycle. It is amazing how much can be piled onto a bicycle, such as huge
canisters of water or loads of agricultural produce or construction teams
materials, though of course that load will have to be continually pushed with
much difficulty up the numerous hills.
·
An even greater sign of success is the
ownership of a motorbike, especially in the townships, where they are often
earning their owner a living as a taxi. (Public transport often barely exists).
·
However tourism is being developed. As
well as planned expeditions to rainforests, national parks and the homeland of
mountain gorillas, Rwanda now possesses a network of fascinating museums plus,
of course, a number of genocide monuments.
And now a few words about the people we met and got
to know:
·
Schooling in Rwanda is not yet
universal, but is becoming more so as the country advances towards its goals of
creating a middle-class and moving away from a purely subsistence farming-based
economy.
·
Those whose company we so much enjoyed
during the fortnight in their company were school students mainly aged from 16
to 20, plus the IDebate organisers who were mostly in
their early 20s. And what a vibrant and intelligent community they proved to be
- invariably showing and voicing huge passion and enthusiasm. Also with an
absolutely fluent command of English, even though their country switched from
French to English less than half a dozen years ago. It was a delight to work
with them.
·
The rationale for the central position
of debating in Rwanda is to assist in the development of critical thinking and
rational planning as the country seeks to reach its planned "2020
Vision", and thus achieve in 20 years what we in Britain took well over
100 years to achieve.
·
However, as well as being so bright and
dedicated, every person we met proved to be always kind, friendly and amusing.
Class sessions were devoured eagerly, the debate contests were passionate and
well-prepared, and the 2 or 3 special events that we put together were hugely
exciting. Just imagine the noise level of a Speaking Olympiad of various
speaking and debating styles, in which we had divided our the ‘debating
campers’ into 4 teams bearing the names Lions, Eagles, Gorillas and Zebras!
All I can say in conclusion is that, if you ever
have the chance to visit Rwanda - for whatever reason - I wholeheartedly
recommend you to go there!