Hope for begging talibe children, St-Louis Senegal

Dear friends of Maison de la Gare,

With your help, we have made enormous strides in improving the lives of the begging talibé street children.  Earlier this year we carried out a full census of the daaras of Saint-Louis, the first time that this has been done.  The astonishing result ... 12,528 boys living in 187 daaras under abysmal conditions and begging in order to support themselves and their marabouts!

Over 1,000 of these boys visit our center each month, taking basic literacy classes, exploring arts and crafts, learning rudimentary computer skills, playing soccer, learning karate and, in general, having a chance to play and to be children.  Our nurses treat over 300 of these boys each month in our infirmary.  So far this year close to 300 boys whom we have found sleeping in the streets have passed through our emergency shelter as we worked to reintegrate them into their daaras or their families in their home communities.

But what happens to the older boys?  For many, they aspire to become marabouts themselves, the main adult role model they have known.  Others, unable to read or write and with no marketable skills, drift into marginal lives in the streets.  We are striving to help them find better ways.  For the younger boys, education offers a way forward.  But, for the older boys it is harder.  We have taught tailoring skills and, since last year, have offered a basic agricultural apprenticeship opportunity at our new property in Bango for up to 25 boys at a time. 

Our objective at Bango is to prepare the boys to become autonomous over a period of one to two years, for reintegration into their home communities or elsewhere.  Their response has been enthusiastic.  As they have become more familiar with what is possible, our ideas about how to organize the project have evolved.  We have divided the property into seven sections with one older talibé responsible for each.  Each of these leaders has several younger talibés working with him.  This seems to be working very well as it gives each child a clear idea of what they are accomplishing and also provides a certain competition among the boys which is motivating for them.  They are growing and selling avocado, basil, papaya, citronella (used for tea), mint, peppers. mango, okra, oranges, hibiscus (the flowers of which are used to produce the popular Senegalese drink Bissap), tomatoes, guava, plums and bananas.

We want to expand these opportunities, and have identified two new properties to do this.  One, close to Bango, will be for raising poultry.  This has the potential to greatly increase the revenues from these apprenticeship programs and to provide the boys with very valuable additional skills.  The second property is about 10 km from Saint Louis and is well suited to growing bananas, which have been very successful in our Bango property but consume much available space as they grow.  We have defined a project which would involve about 40 boys and should be fully self-supporting after the first year.

You can help us to kick off these new projects.  Tomorrow, Tuesday November 29th, is GivingTuesday and, starting in the US at 12:01 a.m. Washington time, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will add 50% to your donation.  Matching in the UK starts at 12:01 a.m. London time.

This the perfect opportunity to renew your support.  Please donate early in the day, while matching funds are still available.  Thank you.