Introduction
Current affairs drive to question oneself about the issue of beggar children which constitutes a worrying one as far as the respect of children rights is concerned.This question arises with acuteness in Africa and particularly in Senegal on account of the intensification of extreme poverty. ‘ In Senegal sixty five per cent of the populations live below of the threshold of poverty ‘(1).This alarming situation brings about pauperized farmers to entrust their children with ‘marabouts’ (religious guides) who use them in begging.
This paper, which aims to inform the Bajito Onda Foundation on the question, seeks to analyse the phenomenon with a specific reference to Dakar.It tries to answer the following questions: who are these beggar children? How do they live? What policy is adopted by the Senegalese state to take them in charge?
I-The beggar children
They are generally thin boys of 5 to 15 years usually entrusted by poor parents with ‘marabouts’ in charge of their koranic education.They are named ‘taalibe’ in Senegal.The word ‘Taalibe’ comes from Arabic ‘Talib’ which qualifies learning and asking people.Identifiable with their bare feet,their dirty clothes usually in rags and their empty tomato pots which serve as containers to keep the begged food, ‘Taalibes’ don’t frequent modern school.The whole of their education is based on both koran learning and begging.They live in ‘Daaras’(koranic schools) where ‘Marabouts’ initiate them into community life.Idle,they come mostly from arid areas.‘Among them Mauritanian refugees, Senegalese repatriated but also nationals from close countries pushed to exodus by drought’ according to Saliou Sarr, trainer at Ecole Normale (Teachers Training School) in Thies, Senegal. But, how do ‘Taalibes’ live?
III-The ‘Taalibes’ living conditions
They are living dramatically bad conditions.Some of them are boarded in ‘Daaras’ which are often dilapidated or unfinished houses without roof given to ‘Marabouts’ by people whose aim is to contribute to the ‘Taalibes’ koranic training.Others sleep in makeshift shelters such as garages,markets,etc. Overpopulated,the accomodations don’t meet simple sanitary conditions.There are neither water nor electricity in these lodgings.We can find in them many germs agents such as rats,mice,cockroaches,etc.This precariousness brings “Taalibes” to remain sometimes weeks or months without having a shower. On account of this, they risk to mortal epidemics such as malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, etc. Forsaken,they have no access to medical treatments.More than anything else, they are the victims of severe and unhuman punishments in ‘Daaras’ where they are ill-treated in the event of violation of the begging regulations (each day the ‘Taalibe’ is obliged to beg for at least the sum of five hundred CFA (more or less one dollar) in order to maintain the ‘Daara’).The fear of being beaten by the ‘Marabout’ brings them to commit vagrancy actions on the streets of Dakar :theft of money,food,clothes,etc.Some of them are exploited by ‘Faxmen’ (2) who use them in criminal actions (drug and indian hemp trafficking).On this account,they suffer of a violent police repression:raid,punching-up,judicial placement,etc
IV-Government with the beggar ‘Taalibe’ phenomenon
As a real social problem, the ‘Taalibe’ phenomenon doesn’t stop worrying the Senegalese authorities.Besides, as far back 1973, a law (Article 245 of the Penal Code) has been editted in order to get rid of begging in Senegal.This law planned to equip koranic schools with a legal statute which favours a good management of ‘Daaras’.But for lack of means,the legislation has not been enforced.However,various actions have been taken by the Senegalese government to control the problem (assistance,subsidies,etc.).Nevertheless, the populations’ impoverishment doesn’t stop making worse the begging phenomenon.According to the UNICEF (United Nations for Children’s Education Fund) 2005 report, 400,000 children are in vulnerability in Senegal and between 250,000 to 300,000 of them daily take part in begging in Dakar. ‘Senegal is attempting to better the situation of the most vulnerable children in the strategic document of poverty reduction (DSRP) and through both sectorial policies and programs for the protection of children’s rights’, declared Ian Hopwood who is the Unicef Representative to Senegal.Unfortunately, figures don’t plead in favor of this promise : the growth rate of Senegal which was about an average of five per cent from 1993 to 2000 is brought down around 2.3 per cent in 2002 according to the IMF.
Conclusion
This study on the beggar children phenomenon in Dakar has revealed the dreadful living conditions of ‘Taalibes’ forsaken by poor families and neglected by the Senegalese government who are incapable of enforcing a policy likely to alleviate the sufferings of the populations by a poverty reduction.Anyway, President Wade is seriously mistaken in expressing himself as to the phenomenon of poverty in Senegal as follows:‘the poverty notion,what is it?we can’t say that poverty is the matter of more or less one dollar a day, I find this completely stupid.We can say that it means when we haven’t a minimum to live on,no water,when we are hungry.But there is another stage,still more serious in poverty and it is extreme poverty.These are people so poor and in despair that they live out of the social norms.Well,this does not exist in Senegal! ’
The phenomenon of beggar ‘Taalibes’ is a particular case to contradict this thesis.
References
(1) 2003 Worlwide Report on Human Development.
(2) Faxmen: ‘Wolof’ (3) term to designate people who, as a result of the damage of familial relations, decide to deliberately make a breaking with their parents in leaving them to elope in places unknown to them.
(3) Wolof: language spoken by most Senegalese people.
Papa Mao Fall Ndiaye
Bajito Onda Senegal
mao@bajitoonda.org
