Today marks one week since the arrival of an old friend from my church in the US. Beni was part of the same team I was when I first visited Senegal in 2003. She returns every couple of years to volunteer with different organizations. This year, she's working mainly with one of several organizations that provides help for talibe [TAL-ee-bay] boys--boys whose families have given them to a marabout [MAIR-uh-boo], a regional Islamic religious/political leader, for training in the Koran. Though they do get rote Koranic training in Arabic (which is not spoken here), most become street beggars who raise money for the marabou. They are frequently underfed, underclothed, underwashed, and lacking in medical care. Many Senegalese are scandalized by this system, but marabouts are culturally, religiously, and politically entrenched.
In the next few days, I'll post an article with more details about the problem and about the organization Beni is volunteering for.
In addition to coming to volunteer, Beni generously loaded up her luggage with things I can't buy here, including oat bran, "Miracle Whip," my favorite brand of chewing gum, books and DVDs in English, and, most importantly, a lot of music for the Chamber Choir, for which we are grateful.
None of this has anything to do with the above picture, which shows three of my middle school students who just dropped by to say "Hi" and to sing silly songs to me.
Posts
