News from Maison de la Gare
Samba Sy, A Victim of Torture
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A window into a brutal reality
Many of our reports celebrate happy times with the talibé children, their resilience, and
their successes. And there is much to celebrate.
However, this masks the harsh reality. Every child we work with is a victim of a contemporary
form of slavery and a victim of torture. They live their lives without family nurture or
support, deprived of decent shelter and hygiene facilities, and begging for their food
and for money.
Since 2013, our work has been partially supported by the funds of the United Nations High
Commission for Human Rights, initially by the Slavery Fund and for the past two years by
the Fund for Victims of Torture.
Each year, we must prepare 20 detailed case studies of victims for the Torture Fund. Each
of these is a window into the heartbreaking reality of these children’s lives. Every
story is different. We are sharing one of them here, to give you a window into this world.
________
Samba Sy is a 19-year-old adolescent who comes from the Kaolack region of Senegal. His
father is a farmer, while his mother runs a small business selling local products and looks
after her children. Samba is the third oldest of five brothers and two sisters.
Six years ago, Samba’s father decided to entrust him to a cousin who is the marabout of a
daara in Saint Louis. Arriving there at the age of 13, Samba embarked on the long journey
of a talibé's life, with all the ups and downs that entails. He soon found himself begging
on the streets of Saint Louis for his marabout’s benefit. Samba, having left his family
home for a decrepit daara with deplorable living conditions, suffered a severe psychological
shock realizing that his life was entering a new and very difficult chapter.
Samba was subjected to physical violence from the first days of his arrival, due both to
not being successful in begging for the 200-franc quota imposed by his marabout and to not
mastering the memorization of versus of the Koran as required. Each time, he was subjected
to a beating, either by the marabout himself or by one of the older talibés of the daara.
Such violence in daaras becomes the norm for both the marabouts and their victims. The
older talibés are themselves victims of this vicious cycle, which they repeat believing
that it is the only way to forge the young talibés into valiant men.
After living this situation for over five years, with violence and daily humiliation, and
after a particularly 
violent incident with resulted in him being hospitalized, Samba decided
to run away from the daara and live on the street. He slept in a small shelter that he set
up near the market and did small tasks to make money to meet his basic needs.
It was after several days on the street that a discussion with another talibé who comes
regularly to Maison de la Gare motivated Samba to finally take charge of his life. The
talibé told him about the karate program he participates in. He also explained the support
he gets at the center, talking about the different activities that we offer for talibé
children. When Samba expressed interest, the boy put him in touch with Buaró, our staff
member responsible for the karate program.
Buaró immediately recognized Samba’s desperate situation. He won the boy’s confidence,
supported him, and brought him to our center. Because Samba was still
suffering from his
beatings, our medical team of Awa and Alagie took charge of him, treated his wounds,
and gave him antibiotics.
Aby and Aïssa in our emergency shelter took Samba in for four days while he recovered from
his injuries. He was able to shower, was given new clothes, and enjoyed regular nourishing
meals. He quickly regained his strength in the safe and reassuring environment.
Because of the traumatic nature of his experience, Samba participated in psychological
support sessions with the emergency shelter team. The educators supported and comforted him
and helped him to understand that his situation was not his fault. With this support, his
mental health and emotional well-being steadily improved.
We initiated a search for Samba’s parents and issued a warning to his marabout. The marabout
admitted beating Samba. He acknowledged that he had crossed the line and that this should
never happen again in his daara.
After finding Samba's father, we organized a mediation session at our center with him and
the marabout. We confronted them with the facts and clearly defined their responsibilities
in this tragic story. Finally, an agreement was reached for Samba to return home to
his family in Kaolack.
Samba is now home, secure in his family environment and working out the next direction in
his life. Our educators continue to support him with regular telephone calls,
to both him and his parents.
The tragic cycle has been broken, and Samba has the chance to build a better future.
________
The name and region of origin of the talibé child featured in this report have been
changed. All the photos except the first one are staged with a talibé of the same age.
“Samba” was one of 188 talibés welcomed to our emergency shelter in 2023, each of them
having a similar heartbreaking story. 46 of these boys were returned to their families in
their home communities, 135 were reintegrated into their daaras, 5 were referred to
other centers, and 2 ran away.
