It's amazing that the holidays have come and gone already. My mom is about to leave at the end of the week and we are trying to squeeze in all those things that we said we'd get to in good time. Of course, now is the time or else it doesn't get done.
One of those things is to find an organization that works with the Talibé to give a donation to. The entire story of the Talibé (Arab for student or disciple) is a long one but what it boils down to is that there are boys begging in the streets of Dakar. These boys are usually given to a religious leader, a marabout, by their parents for a free religious education. They are given away because their families cannot afford to feed them, because it was once considered a duty and an honor to have a son study with a marabout (back when actual learning took place), and because ignorance and poverty are the worst threats to childhood. So what happens is that these boys are told that begging for alms (alms is one of the pillars of Islam) will be a part of their studies; you see boys from 5 to 16 (?) begging for change all over town. If they fail to earn a certain amount each day (350CFA or 75¢ some say) to give to the marabout they are beaten or starved or worse. The older boys abuse the younger ones, stealing the money they've earned and sexual abuse is not unheard of in their "schools". I use quotes around "schools" since the boys don't really learn anything that they can turn into a profession--like literacy or arithmetic. It is an incredibly complex problem that faces Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Boys robbed of a future.
My mom has taken it upon herself to make sure that someone helping these boys receives a helping hand themselves during the holiday season. Her motivation is altruistic and contagious. So, tomorrow we will go see a center that helps get these boys off the streets. I'm not sure how they do it since the marabout don't easily let their boys go--even the runaways are tracked down and brought back. I'm curious to see how it is that this group has been operating given the cultural, political and economic complexities. I hope that we have a good experience because I so want to believe that this can change. I hope that 2009 brings lots of hope to an otherwise hopeless group of children.
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There were some kids like this on the streets of Oakland this fall. Supposedly they were enrolled in a religious/Christian private school and as part of their studies in "interpersonal communication" they had to sell candy on the street corners to raise money for the school. All were young African-Americans, mostly male, dressed nicely, but not in school and not supervised by an adult in downtown Oakland.
Aunt Lisa
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