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In each and every big city in Senegal,
thousands of boys dressed in filthy rags
spend the day moving along the main streets,
banks, supermarkets and gas stations,
begging for money, rice and sugar.
The boys, known as Talibes,
offer a tin or a plastic bowl
hoping to reach the daily quota
demanded by their "teachers" or "marabus",
responsible for their education and shelter.
It's estimated that there's more than 30.000 talibes children in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
Typically, the boys are forced to beg everyday, the whole day.
On the streets, they become vulnerable to accidents,
disease and often to the burning sun.
A boy with a tin, begging leaned over the window of a car,
has become the symbol of Senegal.
In 2005, the Senegalese government promulgated a law
that criminalise the act of forcing an individual to beg
for financial profit.
Despite the efforts of local and international humanitarian agencies,
that pursuit the improvement of quality of live in Koranic schools,
they've not being able to reduce the growth of this phenomenon.
So little, see, no dad, no mom, he has to fill this tin with coins
and give to his owner.
He's too little. This other boy here is a reflection of his future.
Look at their clothes! Have a look at his little feet
and see how much he's walked on this arid land!
That's what his life has become
We're going to free him
and as many as we can!
In the way to a Dahra: a place where children live in sub-human conditions
together with the Marabus, their "owners".
Now we're here to help Senegal,
We're not here to open churches
We're here because we believe God is love.
Because God loves the children.
And our mission in this world is to improve their lives.
We brought with us these fabric birds made by Rita from the Religar Institute.
She sewn them with love
and curiously we've found here real birds
and most of the time they live locked in this cage.
They are sold on the streets by little kids
and people buy them in order to do the day's good deed,
which is buying and releasing the birds.
That's what I'm doing now, opening the cage to free one or two of them.
They are so used to do so.
When people here do that, buying the birds,
they're actually buying their freedom.
We'd like each child in this Dhara, school, receive one of these birds
This is our prayer for their freedom,
these birds represent our wish for the freedom of these children.
and that's what we're doing now,
giving these birds to the kids.
While we're preparing the orphanage,
we also want to take care of the kids in this Dahra,
and now we have an agreement with the Marabus
to give them a TV, DVD player, French teacher
to come here and we are very glad for that!
Thank you so much!
Yearly, Marabus promote parades to advertise their Dahras,
in order to attract new Talibes or disciples.
This is one of the activities most done by the kids on the streets,
it's playing table soccer.
We believe we should buy many of them
to use them as tools to approach the children,
you know, children here play with anything,
an empty ball, old soccer tables,
we're talking about old and simple equipment, the need is so big!
They're hundreds of children as you can see,
hundreds along this avenue!
You see, we want to participate, help, get involved somehow in their lives.
Some children still have a way out, don't they?
And others don't have scape.
We have here kids in this last condition of no scape.
And you'll see they're doing a spectacular work of triage here
one of the social workers here, a specialist,
he talks to them in such a way that he can detect precisely a candidate for the program,
then you double check the child' story and it's confirmed.
So, everything is considered, isn't it? Family, future perspective, age, time on the streets?
Mark knows all, yes? That's cool!
That's cool, Ed, congrats, bro!
"I am Neymar!"
Breakfast preparation.
About 40 children attend daily to the shelter.
Here, they have meals and French lessons.
They receive activities to stimulate co-existence and respect.
At the end of the day they receive money for the transport
to the place where they spend the night.
Without money for the transport,
they'd have to walk for hours until reaching the square where they live.
Square where hundreds of children live.
The children are hostilized by older talibes.
Islamic hymns are played from night until dawn.
Meeting with the Project management team.
Ndyae, French teacher.
Richard, social worker.
Mark, coordinator.
Stanislas: "We need to have the minimum of infrastructure,
in order to create the best conditions for those children."
Dulô: Ex-Talibé and security of the house.
Thank you for being part of this!
I want to thank you all, for the effort we perceive in each one of you!
Edmilson called me one day saying "Marcelo, believe me this time!
This time I'm not wrong!
Let's try again!"
Money from people who love Senegal.
Money from people who love children.
Money from people who trust the Way to the Nations,
from people who know we'll apply the resources
for the children best interest.
We're in this to give our own lives.
We don't want to take people out of their religions.
But we preach in Brazil that God's love can live in us
and He expresses Himself in our neighbour.
God loves us and we love God
only when we love the other.
That's the religion we believe.
So what moves us is only love,
and although I'm here because I believe that Jesus sent me,
this is something between Him and me, it's a conviction of my heart.
The Way to the Nations is a secular humanitarian agency.
That means we won't impose any religion here at work.
Because, we've been sent to take care of children.
I'm happy because I think this is it.
And we are heavily counting on you!
We don't have time to waste!
So, what we want to do here is more than
just providing entertainment for street children.
And that's why the project is called a Way to the Future.
We don't want to change only one of their days,
we want to change their lives.
We don't want to give just one happy day
and then, they go back to sleep at the square
or worse, to the Dahra slavery.
What we do want is loads of projects
on education, health, recreation, sports.
So when they grow up and they leave here becoming an adult Senegalese,
be dignified citizens, equal to all the others.
This is our dream and we know this is your dream as well.
Oh, but somebody said "you know, in Senegal, that's the way things are!"
Did anybody say so? "That's the way things are in Senegal!"
In Brazil, they say the same.
In Brazil "just do it no matter how".
The Way to the Nations things are different.
We think everything has to be done the best way possible!
We're aware sometimes the best is not the sufficient,
but it is our best!
Giving out our best!
And then, if we keep doing our best with few,
we'll be able to do the same with many.
So we'll become a model, in Senegal,
of how to rescue those children.
Day of the orphanage inauguration.
Attendance control and pedagogical follow-up of the children.
These children today received their little friends to cuddle,
and mark this day: for the first time, they'll sleep in a bed,
they're leaving the streets, the nights at the square behind,
and they're coming to live with us, here at our orphanage!
Thank you so much, friends! This is a dream come true
and you're here in my heart!
The social worker explains to these teenagers
they won't be part of the project because of their age
and not fulfilment of the pre-requirements.
At this stage of the prototype, only 50 orphans between 5 to 13 years will be looked after.
The supervisor advise the first kids chosen to live at the orphanage.
They'll learn to co-exist in mutual respect and abiding by rules.
There are many more children to be rescued and we don't plan to stop
We count on you! Participate! Let's move ahead together,
crossing frontiers, reaching where no one else goes,
seeing what no one else wants to see,
doing what no one else wants to do!