Ángel Expósito: “Les enfants talibés”

In these “religious schools” for children aged four to five and above, they only do two things: study the Quran and beg non-stop. Because in boarding schools they teach the Quran only in Arabic. Arabic only. Not a trace of French or Wolof (official Senegalese) language.

When they leave the Qur’anic “class”, their duty in life and the next stage of their training is to beg. and begged. Hours and hours. day to day. Among the garbage, among the insects, the heat is unbearable. “Talibanitos” walk barefoot through dirty, mud and rat alleys. No decent clothes and yes, carrying half a plastic can or half a can asking for coins.

Many people had scabies or ringworm wounds on their heads. They were sick, malnourished, and infected each other. They slept crowded together in infected rooms. inhuman. There is no sanitary condition. The small amount of coins they get (if any) goes directly to their manager. Otherwise, they will be punished by whipping. When some aid worker or white man (“toubat, toubat”) gives them some food, they attack like hungry little pests. Like flies.

These “Taliban” children are a perfect example of an impossible future. They will never learn anything (except the Quran) and they only speak Arabic (and poorly). They are born and survive in the most brutal begging. Their only future lay in the miracle of finding a job (black and slave) or immigrating when the Mafia caught them at the age of fourteen or fifteen. When they become victims of human trafficking.

marvelous. Indescribable. They are terrible and infinitely sad. They surround you, ask you for a coin, touch your watch… I even thought of their adjective “talibés” (Taliban, but small). Because even this name can give you goosebumps. Dirty little Taliban, numbering in the hundreds, just learning the Quran and begging in the most absolute nothingness. do you know? Seeing these children makes it easier for us to understand and mourn the immense drama of immigration. If only in terms of the percentage of the population they represent.

“Les enfants talibés” will not be erased from my memory for a long time. More importantly, I hope I never forget them.

PS: If you were in his position, think about the future, what would you do? Of course I would jump into the ocean too.