[STILL UNANSWERED] EXP Debounce is not working, can someone tell me why?

the thing i need help with is pretty easy, its just how to do so players cant spam the EXP getting, i tried adding debounce but its not working, help?

local debounce = false
local Spirit = script.Parent
 Spirit.Touched:connect(function(entity)
     if entity.Parent.Name == "WaterEssence" and game.Players:FindFirstChild(entity.Parent.Parent.Name)and debounce == false then
        local Man =  entity.Parent.Parent.Parent
        local RealMan = game.Players:FindFirstChild(entity.Parent.Parent.Name)
        local Bro = RealMan:FindFirstChild("leaderstats")
        local EXP = Bro:FindFirstChild("EXP")
        EXP.Value = EXP.Value + 10
        print(EXP.Value)
        local debounce = true
        wait(20) 
        local debounce = false                
     end
 end)

thanks

EDIT think i found the problem, maybe its because at the start of the script it says "local debounce = false" so maybe anytime i run the script it goes back to false. can someone tell me how to fix this?