Bandiagara, Mali.

Campaign against poverty
Openness to Muslims

When you walk through the streets of our towns and villages in Mali, everywhere you will see many young boys begging. Many of them come from the Koranic schools. These are schools where the marabout gathers children in his hallway or yard and teaches them to recite verses from the Koran in Arabic. Most of the time, parents give their children to the Koranic master, who receives them without always being able to feed them. Therefore, at certain times of the day these children are sent out to beg for food; they are the ‘garibouts’ (God’s friends). The marabout has the power of life and death over the boy. Corporal punishment or other mistreatments are not exceptional, as well as working in the fields in the wet season.

These poorly dressed and barefoot children suffer from malnutrition, illness and the absence of their parents. Often they are not registered on any state or school roll. In recent years, due to increasing poverty, these schools have multiplied; as a result, so has the begging. It is truly a school of poverty. The government and Muslim leaders as well as UNICEF and other organisation have studied the problem without much success for the moment.

Along with our Muslim friends, we Catholics of the parish wanted to bring a little hope to these children. We organised three canteens in the yard of their schools. In this way, 144 children can eat three times a day and do not have to beg. If we get the garments, we clothe them. If they are ill, they can go to the dispensary for treatment. In addition, on the first of the month we organise an awareness broadcast on local radio in Dogon, Bambara, Fulani and French. Open-minded Muslims seeking with us to improve the situation do this.

The topics of the broadcasts are the UN Children’s Charter, the negative effects of begging, lessons in the Koranic school, registering children on the roll of the commune, treatment in cases of illness, the children’s future and their training.
The ultimate objective would be that each child should go to a real school and that the Koranic centres be turned into madrasa, State-recognised schools with trained masters and an official programme where Islam is also taught. It seems this is done in Mauritania and that there are no longer any garibouts beggars.

In addition, at our mixed Catholic College, extending from Year One to Nine, 60% of the pupils are Muslims. For Christian pupils, catechesis is provided during class time. Up to now, we sent the Muslim pupils to the library for this period. However, with all that we hear in the world, we thought it best to offer a course on Islam for Muslims at the same time as our catechesis.

An Arabic teacher at the Bandiagara secondary school provides this course to all the Muslim pupils, boys and girls. We set two conditions: he should do so for nothing as Christian catechists do and he should promote tolerance and respect between religions among the pupils. No problem, he replied! In this way, we have created a space where each pupil develops him or herself in his or her faith in mutual respect. By this means, we hope to prepare tolerant and peaceable men and women who will know how to resist aggression and violence, the upshot of ignorance.

This year our annual parish pilgrimage took ‘the child’ as its theme. The pilgrimage brought 2,000 people together, many of them Muslims. During it, we did a sketch on child trafficking, explaining the UN Children’s Charter on the Rights of the Child, Bible texts, (the sacrifice of Isaac and others), highlighting love and respect for the child (as well as for the unborn.)

At Easter, Mr Ibrahim Tembely, the mayor of the town, wrote us a letter wishing us a Happy Easter. He congratulated us for the harmony and tolerance we exercise among the people of his commune.

Yves Pauwels