In Senegal, many children are handed over to marabouts as pupils (talibé). They often end up with an exploitative marabout and are forced to beg by force, or they flee to the streets.
Perspective Senegal offers escaped and abused Talibés a safe haven and a chance of a normal life. In the training and residential center in Deni Biram, the children learn to process their trauma and develop trust again. They grow up in a family-like community and can train as shoemakers, carpenters or metalworkers in the workshops, opening up new prospects for their future.
The housing and training center in Deni Biram
The area from above
In addition to the craft apprenticeships, the children also receive adapted schooling. Some of them make the transition to the local school and concentrate entirely on their schooling with the aim of studying afterwards. The children are all supported until they have completed their training. This gives them the courage to have new dreams and goals for life and the confidence to pursue them. They are also encouraged by the success stories of the young adults who have already completed their training. The majority of the trainers at the center are former street boys who grew up at the Perspektive Senegal Center. They serve as role models for the children and are able to deal well with their apprentices thanks to their own experience.
Thanks to ongoing support from the Help Children Foundation for the costs of running and renovation work, the project has a foundation on which it can build. However, we also ask for further donations so that the project can continue to develop and we can give many children a better future.
More than 110 children have been admitted to the center since 2009. Most of them have already left the center and are standing on their own two feet. Some of the older boys will soon move out again and start their own business with the trade they have learned or begin studying in the city. This will create space to take in more children. The aim is to reopen a day care center where contact with the street children can be established. Help us to make this possible and offer more street children a safe home and prospects for the future.
