Hope for begging talibe children, St-Louis Senegal

Issa describes a renovation campaign that transformed the Saint Louis welcome center

“A Canadian family arrived at Maison de la Gare’s center a few months ago.  We have been working with a LeRoy family foundation for over ten years, the Rev. C.F. Johnston Foundation which has become a very important partner.  As proof, this Foundation has been supporting us since our very beginnings and it is still involved in all our activities.

This year, it was almost the entire family that arrived to work with Maison de la Gare and the talibé children, including members from the grandfather to the grandchildren.  This is the family of Rod LeRoy, our main partner, who was at our side facing the challenge of setting up the Association and has been with us ever since.  Rod spent his time getting our expenses in order and preparing the meetings that must be held every six months to support our organization and assure our financial stability.

Sonia, Rod’s oldest daughter, devoted her attention to several areas.  One was the karate program, which she organizes and inspires.  Another was the sewing apprenticeship program which has become an important revenue-generating activity for older talibés who are completing their training.  Sonia organized a karate tournament at the center, where Maison de la Gare welcomed some of Senegal’s major senseis.  This tournament was a showcase for young talibés demonstrating their skills and their commitment to become future champions.  Ah Sonia!!!

And Mike was there!!!  The work was divided up so that as much as possible could be accomplished in a short time.  A complete renewal of Maison de la Gare’s center was soon underway, and two key people drove it.  Mike, the eldest son of the family, demonstrated during this first visit to Senegal that he too is dedicated to the fight to eradicate child begging.  A jack of all trades, his holiday was transformed into a non-stop work bee.

Mike and Robin made a very visible contribution with their painting skills.  Robin is Sonia's husband, so Rod's son-in-law.  It was his second time in Saint Louis and he was also totally committed, working non-stop at the center all day for 15 days.

The painting, the cleaning of the center, the screening of the sand, everything was happening at once.  And, behind the scenes, the repair of electrical fixtures and toilets and the replacement of lights, windows and torn screens.  The center was being totally refurbished, with different family members working in every part of the activity.  And they motivated everyone else to help.  Abdou, Lala, Elhage, Abou, Mohamed and I as well as talibés of all ages painted, sifted the sand, moved books, cleaned and performed many other tasks.  It is a clear statement to the world that nothing is impossible if we all work together.

Grandson Robbie embarked on two fronts, painting the library and computer rooms and the emergency shelter, and at the same time training young karate students.  He is the founder and ambassador of this activity at Maison de la Gare, a sport that he has been practicing from a very young age.  He is a national champion in his country.

Granddaughters Alicia and Rowan launched a major renovation and reordering of the library and contributed to repainting the emergency shelter and the center’s walls.  Hard-working young people who have responded again and again to the call of volunteering.  That's the LeRoy mentality.

Our main partner did not hold back in his efforts.  Rod developed a new collaboration agreement between the family foundation and Maison de la Gare, to allow our two organizations to continue to work effectively together to help vulnerable children.  He proposed new projects and helped us with all the challenges facing Maison de la Gare.

We have found this exceptional family very determined and committed, believing in our work and supporting us in all the challenges and commitments of our mission.  In two weeks, they led us in beautifying our welcome center from the ground up.

It was a marvel to see the center after the LeRoy cyclone had passed!!!

A thousand thanks…”

Links:

• This report on our website, with many more photos
• Ce rapport sur notre site web en francais ... plein de photos
• We invite you to join us as a volunteer at Maison de la Gare

Maison de la Gare’s tailoring apprenticeship program takes off

A beautiful new building began to take shape within Maison de la Gare’s welcome center early in 2018, adjacent to the garden and the infirmary.  The hundreds of talibé children who frequent the center every day were very curious about what this would be.  But several of the older talibés knew, and they were waiting eagerly to begin a new and hopeful chapter in their lives.

The talibé youth who stay in their daaras for 5, 10 or even 15 years all face the challenge of what to do when they have completed their Koranic education or are otherwise too old to continue in their daaras.  They have no formal education and no marketable skills, and most do not want to return to their communities of origin where they remember almost no one and have no way of sustaining themselves.  These youth are desperate to find possibilities for a better life.

Many of these older talibés have been with Maison de la Gare for years, and we have become increasingly determined to support them in developing trades which can offer them self-sufficiency and respect in society.  The agricultural apprenticeship program in Bango was our first step in doing this, and this was followed in early 2018 with a poultry farming project.  The tailoring apprenticeship project complements these earlier efforts, attracting and motivating more youth.

The new center was completed in the late spring of 2018 and is now fully operational with 12 electric sewing machines.  An experienced Saint Louis tailor, Baka Fall of Baka Fashion, has made a commitment to guide the program as an instructor and a mentor for the apprentices.  And Kalidou, a talibé who has been developing his skills as a tailoring apprentice for many years, is thriving in his new role as the lead talibé for this program.  He is always present, and his quiet and supportive teaching approach is well accepted by the talibé apprentices.  With Baka’s support, Kalidou is now capable of producing excellent quality traditional clothing of almost any design required by the Senegalese market.  Kalidou is very proud of his role in this project.  Although he is ready to support himself independently, we hope that he will stay with the project for some time.

Two other apprentices are sterling examples of the opportunities offered by this new program.  Both have been the subject of earlier reports, as they have searched to find a direction for their lives.

Souleymane fully understands the need to have a professional skill, as he was launched from his daara without any ability to earn a decent living.  Souleymane was sent to a daara in Saint Louis from his home in the Gambia at a young age.  He began frequenting Maison de la Gare’s center in 2010 where he faithfully attended literacy classes and became a leader of the karate program.  In 2017, Souleymane’s family convinced him to return home for an arranged marriage.  Once there, however, he realized that it wasn’t possible to have the life that he had envisaged for himself and his family.  He returned to Saint Louis determined to learn a trade.  Souleymane expressed his motivation to join the tailoring program saying simply: “I want to have a meaningful activity and a trade.”  He faces the challenge of supporting himself and his family while continuing in the program.  We have provided living accommodations for him, but he must still eat and send a small contribution home to his wife in Gambia.  However, Souleymane has persisted, and he will soon have the skills that he needs to generate a living income.

Elhage has also persisted, with a personal drive and motivation that are truly exceptional.  He was very articulate when he signed up for this program: “Not having a trade at my age is like walking blind.  There was no work for me here and I want to train to have a better life, to have real work and a skill so that I can run my own business.”  Elhage spends two days a week in the market, working at odd jobs to earn enough money to feed himself for the week.  He works the remaining days of the week in the tailoring apprenticeship program and he sleeps in Maison de la Gare’s emergency shelter building at night.  With his tailoring skills, Elhage will soon be ready to use his boundless energy to build his own life; he is a model and an inspiration to the other talibés of all ages.

Apprentices have been at work in the sewing center pretty well every weekday over the past year, and often on weekends.  They have learned to make traditional clothing items such as pants, skirts and shirts as well as items like colorful shopping bags.  These are beautifully finished, fully on par with equivalent items purchased in the local markets or elsewhere in Saint Louis.

Many of Maison de la Gare’s volunteers have purchased clothing and other items to take home with them as gifts or for themselves.  The apprentices have produced robust and colorful bags of different sizes, and other volunteers have taken samples of these home with them for sale in Canada, the U.S. and some countries in Europe.  A flower shop in Ottawa, Canada – Alta Vista Flowers - is offering smaller bags with some of their floral arrangements and they reported sales over $200 during a recent month.    Such sales are very motivating for the apprentices and, if we can build successfully on these beginnings, can make an important contribution to the sustainability of this valuable program.

The tailoring program has allowed us to respect a promise that we made to the older talibé children who have grown up with us, a promise to offer them a way of finding true stability and self-respect in their lives.  The tailoring apprenticeship building has become a magnet for the talibé children participating in our other programs and is a visible statement and reminder to them that there are possibilities for them to become competent and self-sufficient, to take charge of their own lives. 

We asked Kalidou what the project means to him.  His response: “I feel too emotional to speak.  I don’t have words to express how much this project means to me.  It is a dream come true.”

Links:

• This report on our website, with many more photos
• Ce rapport en francais sur notre site ... avec plus de photos
• We invite you to consider joining us as a volunteer or intern