Talibes

Senegal’s “Talibé”
Everywhere Senegal
May 5, 2010

Walking down crowded streets, on rural road stops, or even barging into a home, young boys in tattered clothes, dirty and undernourished, carry a large tin can filled with rice and sugar incessantly begging for food or money. These young boys, or Talibe, are forced to beg to survive.

In 2004, a UNICEF study estimated that about 100,000 children – approximately 1% of children in Senegal – were working as street beggars. The vast majority 'work' as talibés, young boys forced to beg under the guise of Koranic education.

In Senegal, especially in rural areas, there exists a cultural tradition of sending young boys to local or even far off Marabout, Koranic teachers, to study Islam. In recent years, however, this tradition has transformed into exploitation and brutal child abuse on the part of the Marabout and most of the Islamic schooling has since been abandoned.

Since the 1970’s, poverty has been a driving force behind the increase of Talibe throughout rural and urban settings. Rural parents, who cannot support their children, resort to sending their sons to Marabouts either locally or in cities. Run-down shacks with patched tin roofs and crumbling cement double as Koranic schools and homes for the Talibés. In return for lodging and schooling, Marabout, many of them also struggling to make a living, exploit their students by sending them to the streets to beg. If they don’t deliver an adequate amount, they suffer the consequences. Regularly, they are beaten, abused and starved while the Marabout pocket the meager earnings.

The problem of Talibe exploitation came as a result of deeper economic instability in Senegal. Since the 1970’s, peanut prices have fallen - one of Senegal's chief exports, subsistence farming has become more difficult as a consequence of desertification, and increased flight to urban centers has risen where the standard of living is more costly. While talibe are a daily occurrence anywhere in the country, they mostly go ignored and the situation is accepted as part of life in Senegal.

The Talibe in Senegal has gained international attention in recent days as Human Rights Watch published a report chastising the Senegalese government on their lax policies toward the abuse of these young boys.

‘‘Tens of thousands of children at residential Quranic schools in Senegal are subjected to slavery-like conditions and severely abused,’’ reported Human Rights Watch in a recent statement. Human Rights Watch has scolded Senegal calling the government negligent toward the child abuse and has used vicious rhetoric urging Senegal to crack down on the Marabout.

The situation is more delicate, however, as Marabout and Islam play an integral role in the Senegalese government. Mayors and statesmen look to Marabout for support as, often times, the Marabout hold the ear of roughly 90% of the population. If the Marabout disapprove of a piece of legislation, so will the people. Therefore, chastising a government, where the "problem" is deeply intertwined in political decision-making, seems simplistic and short-sided.

Moreover, while it is nice to have Human Rights Watch recognize the situation, hearing it reported on the BBC from a car radio while stopped at a local gas station with ten Talibe surrounding you begging for food or money puts quite a different perspective on the matter.


If interested, you can read more about the Human Rights Watch initiative from the link below.

http://www.jollofnews.com/human-rights-watch-scold-senegal-over-talibes.html

*the information on this blog came from HumanRightsWatch.org, WorldVision.org and my own experience.