iDebate founder Christine Teta on women driven social causes

In a casual conversation, Christine Teta uses phrases like ‘I beg to disagree’ or ‘I am in full support of that’ as if she were debating. And this comes as no surprise because debating is clearly one of the things she cares most about. Teta holds a Bachelors degree in agribusiness and rural development from the Institute of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (ISAE Busogo). The 23-year-old is a co-founder of Idebate, an organisation that empowers young people through the art of debate to enhance their critical thinking. So far, over 25 schools around the country have benefited from the organisation.In an interview with The New Times, she gives insights on being a young woman with a social cause. Excerpts; When was Idebate founded? Idebate was founded in October 2012; I was still in school in my third year of university. I participated in debates during my A-level and had undertaken training after school that nurtured my talent. I tried working with institutions that had trained us to guide other people but at some point I had the zeal to begin my own initiative that would pass on these skills. I talked to different people who had the same idea but hadn’t pursued them yet. It was around the same time that Jean Michel Habineza (another co-founder) had just returned from school abroad and together we formed a debate based association. How was a 21-year-old girl able to raise finances for a debate organisation? The finances were mostly our own, we did it voluntarily but eventually we worked with different institutions. We tried sourcing for funds at some point but it was somewhat hard to convince people and corporations on the necessity to financially support such an organisation. Some might have liked the idea but didn’t see the necessity to fund it. Of all social causes, don’t you think debating is somewhat strange? Debate is who I am; it is part of my personality. I love constructive debate. It causes you to critically think and want to make sense of why some things are the way they are. It is through debating that you can have intellectual conversations from which you learn a lot. I always wanted to give back to the society; I figured this was one way to do so. If you look at the government’s priority for the youth currently, they are trying to raise a well-informed population. From school or formal education, you are only going to learn what you are taught, but through debating, you share and acquire knowledge. You gain confidence in yourself and learn by asking ‘why’. You learn the root causes of problems in society which is something women and the youth could use. But don’t you think that in a way you could be breeding a future generation of rebellious women? I do not think it is breeding rebellion or going against cultural norms, if anything it teaches and encourages a structured way of arguing, you only argue when you have supporting facts, it doesn’t seek to wash away culture, if anything it strengthens it. It is only bringing out facts and not trying to disagree with everything. Few girls around your age have social causes that they have seen through, by your light why the hesitance? I would say it is because of the fear of being challenged; everyone has some good intentions but the thought that you will be challenged scares a lot of people. I felt the same way at some point, getting through it was because of how badly I wanted to give back to those around me. It is a general challenge for women. The society structure that has placed women in a position where they have to catch up has brought about a fear to face unknown challenges and the thought that they are not good enough. Could it be that they lack the right people to look up to? They have the right role models; the problem is that few look at what the role models went through to get to where they are. That doesn’t mean necessarily trying to replicate life stories, it is only meant to give insights to the path that it took them to get to where they are. Anything in the works at the moment? We are in the process of finalising a USA tour with the youth member of the organisation. We are taking the initiative to show how far Rwanda has come 20 years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and its effects. It is dubbed “The voices from the post Genocide generation”. We feel that as the youth we have to share experiences from Rwanda and spread the message of hope. It will be a chance to have the youth exposed and brand the country. It will be a two and a half month tour where we will move around schools and universities giving talks and debating in different initiatives. You were juggling between school, your social life and commitments and your social cause, how did you do that? It is not easy but it is fulfilling, you can not only rely on school. I was afraid it would make me inactive. The secret lies in how you arrange your programme and knowing when to do what. We all have 24 hours a day. It is how you use them. How do you handle the kids you work with? You learn in the process, everyday you learn how to handle the kids… sorry students (laughs). They would kill me if they heard me call them kids. You have boosted girls’ self confidence through debate but has the social cause done anything for you? It has made me a better person. Though it has only been two years, I have learnt a lot of stuff I never would have learnt elsewhere. I used to think I was only giving to people but found out that I was the one receiving. If I died today, the community would remember me for doing something for them.

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iDebate founder Christine Teta on women driven social causes