Senegal’s ‘talibes’

Crackdown fails to improve beggars

DAKAR, July 27, (AFP): Dawn has barely broken as three of Senegal’s estimated 50,000 child beggars dart through the capital’s streets, hoping for a bag of sugar or a few coins to hand over to their teachers.

Senegal’s “talibes” — children as young as four sent to Islamic boarding schools by their parents, then forced to earn their keep by begging — are out in force every day in Dakar, despite a government crackdown on the practice.

Child specialists say a spike in numbers at dedicated reception centres left them struggling to house so many children as they sifted through individual cases, but business as usual has resumed in the months since.

Mouhamed Lo, a medical assistant at the Yakaaru Guneye centre (“Kids’ Hope” in the local Wolof language), spots the trio wandering the suburb of Guediawaye with begging bowls in hand, and approaches.