- Streetchildren at Daara market, Senegal
[Photo credit: nebedaay under a Creative Commons license]
An article on IRIN NEWS about street children in Gambia set me thinking. In many African countries tribes of street children work the streets, selling, begging and washing car windows (whether you want them to or not!). Often, as in the Gambian story, the authorities crack down on this and round the kids up.
Anyone travelling in West Africa will be familiar with the phenomenon of groups of children begging. These children are sometimes dressed in unbleached cloth and wearing a kind of bonnet, in local dress or in ragged western clothes. They all carry a large tomato tin, often tied with string round their necks. This is organised begging and is different to the homeless groups of street children. These children ‘belong’ to a local marabout or Islamic religious teacher. They are known as ‘almodous’ in Gambia and ‘talibés’ in Senegal. They beg for food for themselves and money for the marabout. They are often beaten if they don’t come back with enough money. Parents sending their boys to the marabout think that they are giving them a Koranic education, but, as the article says:
in some cases they inadvertently feed a thriving network of child traffickers and smugglers, says child rights protection NGO Samu Social.
I remember sitting at a street-side breakfast bar in Ségou, Mali where we were eating before starting our research work in a local school. We were eating bread spread with mayonnaise and drinking milky coffee when we were approached by four little boys dressed in the typical talibé uniform and carrying tomato tins. The boys just stood and watched us. I broke off the end part of my ‘sandwich’ and passed it to the eldest boy. He carefully broke it into four equal pieces and solemnly gave each boy their piece. The way the children ate that bread showed how hungry they were. I did the same with my coffee and passed the eldest boy my mug. He gave it to the youngest boy first and each took a good sip before he solemnly passed the mug back to me. Each morning when we ate breakfast before going to the local school we went through the same pantomime. On our final morning we told the boys that we were going back to Bamako that day. They lined up and solemnly shook our hands. In its way it was a humbling experience.
Talibé child, Thiès, Senegal
[Photo credit: jooseph under a Creative Commons license]
ACTION!
So, what can be done to help these kids? Well, a coordinated effort has been made by a consortium of agencies called STREET CHILD AFRICA. At the moment they work in: Mozambique, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal.
Street Child Africa mobilises kids in the UK to help kids in Africa. You can help too, by supporting the work they do. As they say – a little goes a long way!
Please explore their site and consider donating to help their work. Thank you.
Some related articles
GUINEA-BISSAU: The long road home for talibés
SUDAN: Vulnerable girls risk sexual exploitation on Juba’s streets
KENYA: Collins Ochieng, “I know the importance of going back to school”
