#talibes

Talibes, Modern-day Slaves: A talibé begs on a bridge in the Diamaguene quarter of Thiès, Senegal. May 18, 2015. - photo by Mário Cruz, 2016 World Press Photo, Contemporary Issues, first prize stories

Talibes, Modern-day Slaves

SENEGAL. Koranic boarding schools in Senegal, known as daaras, traditionally give children between the ages of five and fifteen a religious education and teach them Arabic. But the schools are highly unregulated, and conditions in many are poor, with near-starving children living in overcrowded, unsanitary circumstances. The pupils, or talibés, are beaten and sometimes kept in chains for hours on end. Some are the victims of child-trafficking. Talibés are frequently made to beg on the streets for up to eight or nine hours a day, giving all they collect to their marabout (teacher).

Human Rights Watch reports that more than 30,000 boys are forced to beg in the Dakar region alone. Many choose to live on the streets rather than return to their daara. Parents often send their children to daaras in the hope of giving them a better education, or because they cannot afford to keep them at home. In July, the Senegalese government adopted a law prohibiting begging and trafficking, but has been accused of "inadequate progress" at improving the situation by Human Rights Watch. (Source)

Mario Cruz - Talibes, Modern day slaves

Talibes: Modern Day Slaves

Mario Cruz's stunning black-and-white photographs document the plight of at least 50,000 young boys in Senegal, ages 5 to 15, who are exploited in Quranic schools in Senegal.

Cruz gained rare access to the dark side of many Quranic schools in Senegal, known as daaras, and captured disturbing but stunning photographs of the lives of young boys subjected to slavelike conditions. These boys are known as talibes, an Arabic term for disciples.

What once was an honorable educational system has deteriorated in recent decades and is now blighted by the systematic exploitation of children, who are forced to beg on the streets for eight hours a day to support their supposed teachers. They return to squalid daaras rife with malaria, skin diseases and parasites and routinely endure physical abuse as part of the regime of control. Although thousands of Quranic teachers across Senegal take great care of the boys in their schools and provide a traditional education, others have used the lack of regulation to make great profits from boys' labor.

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Talibes Modern Day Slaves will be published by FotoEvidence as a hardcover book with 70 black-and-white photographs and commentary in English and Arabic and will provide local and international NGOs working on the issue with enduring testimony and concrete evidence about the systematic exploitation of children in some daaras in Senegal.