The world keeps on turning, however, does not forget about the World Universities Debating Championships (WUDC or Worlds) in Botswana. A US-American is mopping up after Worlds, a Botswanese is happy about the organization, another American is delighted about the results of IDAS teams and a German deb society covers the tournament.

Steven M. Llano found certain things at Botswana Worlds pernicious, among which were a certain Black Eyed Peas song, the lack of fans, sleep deprivation as well as the word “pernicious” itself. On his Blog “Progymnasmata“, Achte Minute’s op-ed author Steven complained also about the lack of internet access and suggested the following for upcoming Worlds:

“The model would be easy: Get a dedicated webhost/server somewhere and a couple of 3G/4G cards for laptops. The people who want to be on the broadcast committee volunteer and show they have some tech expertise to cover events. People who want live and immediate access pay a small registration fee, like a digital observer. This would easily pay for the cost of bandwidth and tech. Things like extension cords, something Botswana Org Comm was unable to find or supply, shut down some live broadcasting. With this model, it would all be available to the Internet reporting staff. I hope Manila looks into it, and I think in Berlin it shouldn’t be an issue at all. I hope we can institutionalise the Internet reporting as another way for people to participate in WUDC if they cannot afford to travel.”

In the online edition of the Botswanese newspaper Mmegi, convenor Justice Mothlabani is giving an interview. He admits to be delighted about how smooth organization went:

“‘The governing body of the Worlds Debate, in their audit of the tournament which also included financials, said we hosted a successful event, especially that we served free alcohol and local foods and the local committee which rose to the occasion,’ he said.”

However, he wished the government would have played a more proactive role:

“He said they experienced a lot of challenges, especially with Visas, where some of the participants could not easily enter the country. This could not have happened, he said, if Botswana government had been directly involved in the planning and organising of the tournament.”

Recalling the bid for the WUDC, he states:

“’When we were bidding to host this event, we realized that Botswana was a little known country and a friend of mine suggested we write down ten unknown facts about Botswana. In the document we listed that Botswana has some of the most beautiful women in the world, one of which won the Miss Universe pageant. A certain group from one continent (revealed to this paper) were unimpressed because apparently they think that the world thinks their women are the most ugly. At this tournament we tried very much to be sensitive to these issues,’ he said.”

Alfred Snider, debate professor from Vermont, is happy about the results of IDAS teams. IDAS stands for International Debate Academy of Slovenia, an annual week long debate workshop, where Alfred is a committed coach. On the IDAS blog he recounts results: top two ESL speakers (Filip Dobranić and Maja Cimerman, Ljubljana A) and EFL finalists Zagreb A and Belgrad B.

Finally, Wortgefechte Potsdam is giving a detailed report about their participation at Worlds on their website. There they assume, Botswana might be something like the Bavaria of Africa – prosperous and democratic, yes, but always the same party and a comfy population. The two debaters from the Brandenburgian capital come to a positive conclusion: They were happy to meet debaters from such remote parts of the world as Tuanda or Namibia.

apf / glx