THE Zimbabwean debate team, represented by Prince Edward, comprising Leroy Nyarhi, Tashinga Gomera and Paul Kaseke, left Harare on April 27 2008 to compete at the World Schools debate.
They returned as bronze medalists.The PE team were national runners-up in the 2007 Nugget Debate League and they organised themselves during the April holidays to go to Romania to compete in the 2008 edition of FIAT "Let there be" debate competitions. Upon arrival in Romania, the team competed in the preliminary round on the topic, "This house should stand against Nationalism".
There were four more rounds to follow but in this particular level Zimbabwe, who were opposing the motion, were impressive and successfully defended their motion. Leroy and Paul earned the best speakers’ accolades in this round.
The second round had the motion "This house stands against video games" and Zimbabwe stood for the motion and, again, they were victors with Paul being voted the best speaker for the session.The team was then called up to defend the motion, "This house regrets the influence of the USA after World War 2" in the third round. Although they lost, Tashinga still came out as the session’s best speaker.
The fourth round was the last disappointment for the Zim team when they had to support the motion, "This house would justify corporal punishment". But Leroy and Paul were again best speakers in the lost debate.The fifth and final round had the motion "This house believes only democracies should vote in the UN General Assembly" and Zim were against the motion.Leroy and Tashinga were the best speakers in this enticing encounter.
The Zim team’s speakers were voted the most powerful and convincing speakers of the competition. This was because in all its debates, the best speaker award came to the Zim team regardless of the team’s result.After calculating the overall points, Leroy was voted third best speaker internationally while his team mates, Paul and Tashinga, came fourth and sixth respectively.
They each received US$1 000 and PE was invited to Botswana by popular hip-hop artiste Scar who was taken aback by their performance to train debators in his country.
Mr Tawona Zvongouya accompanied the Zim team to Romania and was recognised as both an international adjudicator and debating coach.He was invited to train local teachers in Romania to coach and adjudicate.Overally the trip was a resounding success and this was confirmed by the standing ovation that the team received aboard the return flight to Zimbabwe from passengers.
In Romania the team saw the second largest building in the world, which is the Parliament Building in Bucharest, and also had a chance to visit Brasov and Sinaia.There was an amazing exchange of culture and ideas and all the 80 participating teams had a lot to learn from each other. It was a great tour.
The writer, Tashinga Gomera, is a Lower Six student at Prince Edward High School.
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