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A Letter To The UN Mar 10

I am aware that it has been a really really really long time since I've updated the world on my travels. I want to apologize for keeping you in the dark but I also must say that it was very difficult to keep connected while in Africa. No excuses. I write to you now from England as we finish up this journey. I decided that the best way to include you on everything that has happened up until this point is to provide for you a quick summary of what we've seen in Africa and who we've been working with - a summary that is also being provided for the UN.

West African Talibe Children

There occurs in West Africa - the areas of Senegal and Guinea Bissau in our experience - an injustice involving such inhumane practices as child abuse and child slavery that is widely accepted and encouraged in the cultures of which the incident resides. This injustice involves the displacement of thousands of children from their homes under the banner of religious studies and is tied to abuse and manipulation that the majority of parents know nothing about. These children are known as Talibes or "followers" and are found in a state of poverty.

The cycle starts mainly in Guinea Bissau, where many of the children find their origin. At the age of four, boys can begin their study of the Koran and many are taken from their homes at this time. A community/religious leader called a Marabout takes the Talibe and begins training a religious mixture of Islam and animism with the consent of the individual children's parents. The agreement between the parents and the Marabout is that their child will be taken and trained to become a devout Muslim leader. After the consent has been given, many Marabouts take their Talibes to Senegal - which has been made illegal by the government of Guinea Bissau - where they begin the training, but some are also taken to a forest setting and forced to work with lumber. When those that will arrive in Senegal do, they are given nothing.

In Senegal, the Talibes are forced by their Marabout to beg on the streets. Many Talibes can be identified by the red tin cans they use to beg. They receive no accommodation and no food. They are given, in a sense, a quota to meet in money, food, and other materials, by the Marabout, and told not to return until they meet it. If a Talibe should return without meeting this quota, he is beaten. Anything given to a Talibe boy will be taken by his Marabout. Even clothes donated to a Talibe will be taken by the Marabout or damaged by the child in fear of having it taken. The Talibe children are usually found living/sleeping on the construction sights of unfinished houses in local neighborhoods or whatever trash tents they can construct. Most of the children never see their families again.

Children that attempt to return to their families are often forced back to the Marabout by their parents - their logic being: "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger." The parents see that the beatings and harsh conditions will only make their child a stronger and more powerful Marabout when that day comes. Most, however, know nothing of the conditions. Those that do know see it as a part of the training. That training includes the study of the Koran and Islamic tradition as well as the application of various forms of witchcraft, depending on the Marabout being followed and the role he trains to fulfill. The witchcraft aspect, in some reports, includes techniques in mystical murders and abortions - a service offered to the community by certain Marabouts of a specific training. From word of mouth, the children themselves at times become offered to traditional spirits in human sacrifices.

There are some four to five thousand Talibe children in Senegal alone. The situation is not simply limited to Guinea Bissau and Senegal. Guinea Conakry, the Gambia, and Mauritania are also common destinations for the displacement of Talibe children. Though Guinea Bissau returned 200 children to their homes after smuggling attempts last year, little is being done to stop the cycle; children continue to be smuggled from the country and others like it. The result of governmental attempts to block the smuggling has been the increase of Talibe children in the countries from which they come. All in all, it is hard to see the solution in such a commonly accepted and encouraged practice and perhaps even hard to see the injustice within the context of that culture, but we believe that something here is wrong and hope that it will thus be brought to the attention of those who can do something about it.

Sincerely,
Alex Bennett
on behalf of YWAM's Senegal/Guinea Bissau Outreach Team
sent by the Next Wave Sep. 2007 DTS

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