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Beneficiaries: vulnerable Talib children.

The main beneficiaries of the XICS Centre in Richard Toll are the most vulnerable children aged between 6 and 16 years in situations where there is a high risk of social exclusion, either because they come from broken families or those without resources or because they are Talib children (pupils from Koranic schools) who live in critical situations of abandonment.

In Senegal, like in other West African countries, the Talib phenomenon is a real problem. These are children that beg in the streets and live in highly precarious conditions, often forced into child labour and suffering abuse from adults with nobody to protect them. Their families live in isolated rural areas that are too poor to provide care for them and so they are sent to bigger cities to learn the Koran at Koranic schools known as “Daaras”. These children are recruited from the age of 6 by “marabouts” (religious leaders), who teach them to recite the Koran by heart, and they live in extremely harsh conditions, with just one “marabout” often overseeing the education and nourishment of 200 to 300 children, and they quickly become street children that can only survive by begging.

The Centre will also be taking special care of the most vulnerable girls, many of whom, in these environments, are totally invisible and are almost entirely limited to the family environment (caring for their parents, brothers or husbands). That is why 50% of the beneficiaries of the Solidarity Centre will be girls.

Main activities of the XICS Project -SENEGAL for 2008:

Integral support for 100 vulnerable children in the first year. This includes:

Daily nutritional support for the boys and girls registered in the centre.

Schooling of the children that do not go to school (Talib children, girls that care for their families).

School support for boys and girls that do attend school.

Health care and psycho-social support (vaccines, paediatric monitoring).

Access to sport and leisure.

Adult literacy.

Workshops for the vocational training of the young people.

Awareness and education in relation to health, hygiene and nutrition issues.

Improvements to the conditions of Talib children in 5 Daaras (Koranic schools).

Promotion of sport among all the boys and girls in the community.

Collaborators:

• Richard Toll Council
• Association Sénégalaise pour le Bien-Etre Familial (ASBEF)
• Fundación Barcelona SIDA 2002