One Day as a Talibe (Kids in Culture Book 1)
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Ensure the elimination of informal fees and other barriers to children accessing primary education, in an effort to better progressively realize the right to education for the 60 percent of Bissau-Guinean children currently outside the state school system. This page was last edited on 12 June , at Human Rights Watch visited over 40 urban residential daaras throughout Senegal. The names of parents have also been withheld, even when consent was provided, to protect the identities of their children who remain under the care of the marabouts. Require all daaras to be registered and periodically inspected by state officials. Failure to meet that quota can result in physical abuse.
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Turn on desktop notifications? Share on Google Plus. They thought they were going to religion school. They ended up slaves.
Demba Fati, 14, outside the medical support room of the Maison de la Gare center in St. Louis, Senegal, on May 20, His marabout, or religion teacher, beat him with an iron rod after he tried to escape. Since then, he has gone to the center whenever he needs medical care. A young talibe, or religion school student, is bound by chains in an isolated area of a religion school in the city of Touba, Senegal, on May 27, In this school, or daara, the youngest talibes are shackled by their ankles to stop them from trying to run away.
A talibe reads the Koran at a daara in Dakar on May 25, Ibrahima Ndao, marabout of a daara in Rufisque, whips a talibe child after he makes a mistake while reading an excerpt of the Koran on May 17, The talibes are subjected to physical violence when they fail to get the daily quota from begging imposed by the marabout or if they make a mistake while reading the Koran.
Talibes read the Koran inside a daara in Dakar on May 16, They have to memorize different parts of the Koran each day before going to the streets to beg for money for their guardians. In some cases older talibes will require the younger ones to bring back extra money for them. A drawing made by talibes on a wall of a daara in Dakar on May 19, Talibes sleep together inside a daara in St. Louis on May 21, The daara has over 30 children, no clean water and barely any electricity. Children sleep on the concrete floor with no blankets. Abdoulaye, 15, is imprisoned in one room of a daara in Thies on May 18, The rooms have windows with security bars to keep the talibes escaping.
A talibe begs on a bridge in Thies on May 18, Children are forced to beg for an average of eight hours a day. Many of them spend their days almost without eating and end up falling asleep on the street from exhaustion. A talibe leaves his daara to go beg in the streets of Dakar on May 19, Military police approach a group of children walking through a forest area near the Bissau border, in Guinea-Bissau on June 15, During this time many daaras moved to the cities.
In , this work was picked up on an ad hoc basis by NGOs.
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The prevalence of almsgiving in Senegalese society has made child begging profitable in cities. However, it became more economically viable for urban daaras to remain open all year round:. Over time, the marabouts started to stay in the cities…Why return to the village, where they had to work the land for long hours, when [in the city] a child comes daily with money, sugar, and rice? There is just one difference: In addition to financial quotas, some marabouts set quotas for basic foodstuffs such as sugar and rice. Failure to meet that quota can result in physical abuse.
Human Rights Watch HRW documented boys exhibiting scars and welts, usually resulting from the application of electric cables, clubs and canes. This forces the child to sustain even longer hours begging, or to sleep on the streets. Living conditions in urban daaras are often characterised by malnourishment, lack of clothing and footwear, exposure to illnesses, and poor medical treatment.
Urban daaras are often sites of overcrowding and poor sanitation, and many lack running water. The poor structures which are sometimes converted into daaras leave the resident boys exposed to the elements. Other instances of rape were reported to have taken place outside of the daara against children living on the street who had fled from violence at their daara.
If I am in a complicated situation from which there seems to be no escape, I am determined to get out. I truly believe that it is bad. No one can provide an education for your children better than you can. In my opinion, it is handing off your responsibility as a parent to a marabout.
A child needs to feel affection from his family. The education that a child receives from life within a home holds no comparison in this world. When I found this out, I went to my father to persuade him to let my younger brother come back home. It was not easy because my father was bent on removing him from the French school to send him to Coranic school exclusively.
I continued to persuade my father until he finally took my brother out of the daara. It was a long and bitter argument.
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Since then, he has never tried to send another of my brothers to the daara because now, he too believes that it is not the answer. After each French class, they go to the daara during the midday and at the end of the day. It is better like this, and the children benefit from it. My sister is proof of this as she completely finished memorizing the Coran and she is only 15 years old. She surpassed me because, despite of the years I spent in the daara , I never finished memorizing the entire Coran.
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It is a virtual black market that reaps in the profits from child labor. Imagine having 10 children at your service. In Senegal, this sum would allow you to live an easy life. It is easy to see what attracts people to set themselves up as marabouts and to hound parents who are weighed down by poverty and are cut off from outside resources or information. There are many marabouts that go to the villages where the parents are poor and families have ten or more children with the goal of collecting more laborers for themselves.
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The responsibility of the families who give their children to marabouts must be addressed. A way must be found to enforce some kind of punishment on the parents and marabouts that treat their children in this manner. It must also be impressed on parents just how big of a responsibility children are. It requires lots of hard work and planning to raise children, if you decide to have them, you must take on the responsibilities that follow. Providing your children with an Islamic education is not an excuse to ignore the practical skills that are necessary in life.
I know it is possible because I have done it myself. Today, I am a Wolof and French language instructor in schools for American university students who are studying abroad. All throughout my education in the French system, I have studied the Coran at the same time. It exploits children and deprives them of their freedom and basic rights. Health is also neglected and there is a common lack of respect for even the most basic rules of hygiene. In any case, the situation must improve.
One Day as a Talibe (Kids in Culture Book 1) So, I had posted about my new site *just footnotes* the other day, and then there were some technical glitches. Talibés: Modern-Day Child Slavery. “The work by Mario Cruz hits you like a brick in the face. He uncovers the unimaginable nightmare of child slavery, something that should One of the excuses was the lack of evidence—now the evidence will be Since the first publication of the book and my World Press Photo award, .
If there is goodwill and money available, this system could be brought under control. June 28, at I studied at SIT with you many years ago — you are a wonderful educator, and this story of your experience was really informative and interesting. Hope you are well! June 29, at 6: June 29, at 7: Thank you for sharing this, Moutarou!
They thought they were going to religion school. They ended up slaves.
Now I know more about the institution as a whole, too. The subject was always kept somewhat opaque by taboo and cultural barriers. July 17, at Thank you, Moutarou, for further educating us by sharing your story. Blessings to you and your family. You are commenting using your WordPress.
You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Senegal Daily Khady reporting. Menu Skip to content Senegal.
The Role of the Marabout in a Daara The main role of the marabout is to teach the holy Coran and to assure that it will be memorized by the children that are in his charge. Thank you, Moutarou, for sharing your story with us. Email Twitter Facebook Pinterest Print. Khady Author archive Author website. June 28, Uncategorized Previous post Next post. Thank you for sharing your story Mr Diallo. It was very interesting.