almudo.com - Background on the Almudos

This site is concerned with the street children in West Africa known as almudos. Almudos are young boys (generally aged 8 to 15) who are attached to an Islamic teacher called a marabout. The boys learn the Koran from the marabout and pay him for his teachings by sharing the proceeds of their daily begging. Almudos are found in all West African cities with large Muslim populations. Aid and development agencies such as UNICEF generally agree that these children are the most vulnerable and neglected children in some of the poorest countries in the world. The proposal is focused on the almudos of Dakar, Senegal. To understand the almudos it is necessary to know something about their environment and history.

Senegal

Senegal is located on the western coast of Africa just south of the Sahara (see map). It has about nine million inhabitants, over 60% of whom live in absolute poverty as defined by the United Nations. Average annual income (in 1999) was US$540. Despite an intelligent and industrious population, Senegal is one of the ten poorest countries on our planet. Infant mortality is over 12%. Life expectancy for survivors is 53 years. The population is made up of a mix of ethnic groups, the Wollof (43%) and the Fula (23%) being the most numerous. Ninety percent of the people are believers in Islam.

Islam and Marabouts

Islam came to Senegal from North Africa along trans- Saharan trade routes that were important long before Europeans became interested in Africa. It spread in much of sub-Saharan Africa through Jihads or holy wars led by Islamic religious leaders called marabouts. The Jihads were not wars of conquest only. Often they were popular revolutions against oppressive regimes and the marabouts were viewed as liberators rather than conquerors.

The Fula

The Fula people, known by various names (e.g. Fulani, Peulh and Tukulor) are an ethnic group widespread in West Africa from Nigeria to Senegal. Living just south of the Sahara they, along with the Hausa people, were the first to be converted to Islam and became the most militant in converting more southerly groups. Originally a nomadic, cattle-herding people, the Fula have settled widely in the Sahel during the last five hundred years. Perhaps due to the marginal nature of the land they occupy it has long been a tradition of the Fula that young men and boys leave the villages soon after the harvest in November and support themselves elsewhere until they are needed for the next farming season. When a village has a bad harvest many of the young boys will be given by their parents to the village marabout who will take them to an urban area where they can survive by begging until conditions in their home villages improve. These are the children we know as almudos. The majority of almudos are Fula.

In the streets

When we look at the almudos, we are not seeing children in the streets as a result of family break- down or modern rural-urban drift. These children are engaged in a traditionally sanctioned social strategy for survival, a strategy that has been functional for several hundred years at least. This may in part account for their remarkable resilience and spirit. They are not alienated, they are just poor. That the almudos stand out as the most disadvantaged children in urban environments is because they are rural poverty made visible in the city. Children in the almudos’ home villages are generally in no better condition but they are not visible in the city streets where they can be seen by the urban population.
I first came to know the almudos in 1994, when I was hired to direct a project to work with children in difficult circumstances in The Gambia, the smallest country in Africa. Except where it meets the Atlantic Coast, The Gambia is completely surrounded by Senegal. Within a few days of my arrival it was clear that the almudos were the children most seriously in need of assistance. I began by interviewing them with the help of an interpreter. I was amazed at what I found.

Instead of cynical mistrust I was baffled by innocent openness. These children, who had all the reasons in the world to be bitter and angry, were simply the nicest kids I had ever met, respectful and mannerly to me and kind and caring to each other. They answered my questions shyly but clearly without any subterfuge. Their situation was indeed bleak. They had to beg every day, not only for their own sustenance but to raise money to give to their marabout. They all had skin infections, scabies or ringworm or both, and secondary infections arising from these. They looked uncomfortable but did not seem to be bothered by it. It was not that they were listless or apathetic but rather that they accepted their lot in life and while they could recognize that it was difficult, they were prepared to make the best of it.

An important mystery

These children do not fit the streetkid stereotype. Not only do they seem singularly unaffected by circumstances that should reduce them to brutalized, cynical, criminally oriented urchins, but they seem to be remarkably well balanced and sane. This is not just a shallow first impression. It was strengthened over time as I grew to know the almudos better. How does this come about? Here we have children who are separated from their parents, who have to beg for their food and other basic necessities in the city streets, who have no access to medical care or facilities to keep themselves clean, have to beg a certain amount of money every day and sleep on the bare ground at night. They should be alienated, antisocial, depressed and potentially violent. It is clear they are none of these things. This is an important mystery.

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The information above is based on my own experience in The Gambia and Senegal. The links below offer some more information on almudos (also called almanjeri, garibous, and talibes) in these and other West African countries.

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