https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0 Feel free to comment any thought about these children and their lives! en-us 2020-10-25 18:01:31 UTC 2025-10-17 07:07:11 UTC hello@padlet.com paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859663339 This is the story of the Talibé children. The world "talibé" comes from arabic "طالب": seeker or student. ‎The lives of these kids are far from what we know in our confortable Europe, and yet, no one has ever heard from them. I have to addmit that I first knew about them three summer ago, when I had the opportunity to travel to Saint Louis, Senegal, to get to know their story. ]]> 2020-10-25 18:07:09 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859663339 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859670155 When I arrived to West Africa I had never ever imagined that these children would change my roots and believes the way they did forever. I was working with them at a kind of day-camp organization called "Maison de la Gare", where they could have free healthcare, a save playground and learn new languages, everything provided by the international volunteers as I was. But their lives outside the organization were not that joyful... From the beginning you could feel how mature and independent they act, even if they were just little kids. Nevertheless,  the more independent the more untrustful they become, and trying to work pedagogically with them was trully hard.]]> 2020-10-25 18:13:02 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859670155 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859691774 These kids come from very different countries, usually from Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali or Mauritania. They are only boys and from a very young age they are sent by their families, usually due to lack of resources, to the biggest cities in those countries to study the Quran and hopefully, become an islamic priest.  They are welcomed in the Daaras, islamic schools, where they live in conditions of great poverty in most cases. The education of the Talibé children is guided by a teacher known as Marabout, to whom they have to pay an amount of Senegalese francs to be able to attend class and sleep at the Daara. That is the reason why most children cannot affor the daily fee and they have no choice but to roam and beg for money. ]]> 2020-10-25 18:30:56 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859691774 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859766161 I was blessed with having the opportunity to meet talibé children the same age as me, who have already left the quranic school and who worked with me taking care of the little ones. It was hard to listen to their stories but as tought as they were, those people were happy for what life has brought to them. With no education, apart from the religious education that the Marabout gave them, they were able, through the humanitarian organization, to get more skills such as fluency in Spanish and English, hairdressing or sewing, so they could earn money by themselves. But many of them have aspirations that go beyond their village, they want to come to Europe an here is when they are captured by gangs, who promise them for little money the chance to embark on a boat to Europe. But that is another story...]]> 2020-10-25 19:36:57 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859766161 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859787171 2020-10-25 19:56:10 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859787171 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859791232 2020-10-25 20:00:03 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859791232 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859791601 2020-10-25 20:00:23 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859791601 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859796746 2020-10-25 20:05:43 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859796746 paulaurral https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859797971 2020-10-25 20:06:52 UTC https://padlet.com/paulaurral/kmy1pfrt48yufqy0/wish/859797971