"A New Beginning for the Talibé Children"

Fostering Understanding and Stopping Abuse - Davis Projects for Peace fellows make a difference

Four African students at the University of Rochester, New York were selected in early 2015 to receive a grant from Davis Projects for Peace. Rose Mbaye had witnessed first-hand in her hometown of Dakar the extreme physical abuse and social marginalization of the begging talibé street children. She shared her determination to do something about this problem with her teammates at Rochester U., Mame Coumba Mbodji from Senegal, Zanga Ben Ouattara from Burkina Faso and Eyram Adedze from Ghana and, together, they received this prestigious award.

Rose reports that the group contacted several Senegalese organizations working with the talibé street children, seeking both to understand the issues better and to identify a partner whom they could work with to effect change in a short-term project. They selected Issa Kouyaté and Maison de la Gare. From Issa's point of view, "We had discussions about the feasibility of this project over three long months. I shared the experience and ideas that have made Maison de la Gare what it is, working in close collaboration with our partners and with the world around us. And I expressed my conviction that, to succeed in this work, Maison de la Gare must work hand in hand with civil society and all of the organizations that work for the protection of children."

The main goals of the project were to promote awareness of the exploitation, abuse and stigmatization of the talibé children, and to collaborate with different local stakeholders to improve the conditions of material, educational and psychological deprivation in which these children live. Beyond just promoting empathy, the aim was to engage the children themselves, parents, spiritual leaders, youth service organizations, educators, public officials and ordinary citizens to take action for the betterment both of the children and of society at large.

The project lasted from July 31 to August 26, 2015, and the team was assisted by 45 Senegalese volunteers, mostly university students, who had been recruited a few weeks earlier.

The activities planned during the four weeks included visits and clean-up of seven of the daaras where the boys live, renovation of three of those daaras, providing 18 vocational training workshops in gardening, pottery and artistic recycling, organizing eight collections of clothes, shoes, soaps, etc. in different locations around Saint Louis, and organizing awareness campaigns in three different communities. The volunteers also led French, English and basic computing classes as well as other educational activities and sports competitions in Maison de la Gare's center. Volunteers were organized into four groups, and each of these worked in turn on each of the activities. This provided all of the volunteers with the opportunity to have an all-round experience of the project, and this contributed to maintaining their interest and commitment so that over 90% of them stayed for the full four weeks.

The activities were all a great success, and their completion was even more satisfying. Rose, Ben, Mame Coumba and Eyram received positive feedback about the project from marabouts, parents, the local media and other organizers. Over 500 talibé children were touched by the programs at Maison de la Gare's center and in their daaras. And the awareness campaign sensitized over 300 other stakeholders to the phenomenon of forced child begging, child abuse and the associated stigmatization.

On their return to university, Eyram, Rose, Mame Coumba and Ben summarized what they had learned:

"Through the conversations that we have had with different classes of Senegalese people on the issue of the talibés, it has become clear that it is human nature to refuse to take responsibility for social injustice. Fingers are always pointed at the government as the agent to rectify this issue. These conversations pushed us to think about our complicity in this system; we can't help but wonder how much responsibility we have refused to take on different issues in our lives and the lives of people around us.

This project reminded us that it is essential to take charge of the challenges we face in our lives. It takes a dedicated mind and heart to tackle a problem as complex as the exploitation and abuse of child beggars in Senegal. However, we believe that an idea, no matter how small, can make a significant impact if properly empowered. We must never underestimate the power of collaboration for a noble collective purpose, as the satisfaction one gets from addressing social injustice is worth more than a thousand words."

As for Issa, he summarized the project this way: "This project gelled quickly around all of the people involved ... Maison de la Gare, university students, talibé children, Quranic teachers and the authorities. Thus was born 'A New Beginning for the Talibé Children.'"

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