Talibe: The Least Favored Children of Senegal (2012)

• 80%
• 2012
• Daniela Kon

The important tradition of Islamic education in Senegal has been left to develop in disturbingly perverted ways. 50.000 Koranic students (Talibes), young boys between 4 and 15 years old are subjected to exploitation in conditions akin to slavery. They are forced to beg on the streets by their Koranic schoolteachers and suffer severe physical abuse and neglect. Following the staff of local grassroots NGO 'La Maison de la Gare' (MDG) during their daily efforts to find solutions for the terrible conditions the boys are subjected to, the documentary sets out on a poetic exploration of the nature and circumstances that breed and prolong the suffering of these children.