Here for Good

There is so much to do this week. And as always when I am here, it seems there is so little time. I have arranged a meeting on the weekend with the family of my deceased friend Samir. I have confirmed that their situation is, in fact, dire. Two of the six kids remain top of their classes, and two more are nearly as successful. But, the money from the one time retirement agency government payout will soon be gone, relatives and friends are vanishing into the mist, and  school fees are due in September, not to mention rent each and every month, and six kids to feed. Sunday we visit the new chicken project that is a great opportunity for talibes to learn a trade and develop farming businesses for themselves. Sunday night Rowan and I will go out after midnight with our friend, Idy on a Ronde de Nuit to rescue runaway talibes at risk on the streets. Monday we will visit the village of M'Baye Aw to see the progress of the school that is now educating girls and keeping the boys from being sent away to be talibes. Tuesday Rowan and Arouna present their Mapping the Talibe report to the Maison de la Gare board of directors. I am not sure when I will be able to fit in visiting my two Godchildren, Mohammed and Djiby. And, I have to write those articles. Maybe on the plane home...

There is a little boy in the emergency shelter, named Sedou. We were sure he was about four years old. But, amazingly, he is eleven! He was found looking for food in a garbage dump. Sedou is tiny and frail due to malnourishment. He weighed just nine kilos when he was found about a week ago. He will remain at Maison de la Gare until he is much stronger and gains some weight. Hopefully he will have a chance now.

For me, the last few days have been devoted to reinforcing the karate program at Maison de la Gare. Last night I visited the dojo while the younger kids trained. An earlier than usual class was added a few months ago for the morning karate kids to have an opportunity to work on the matts and experience the more serious environment of the dojo. I think this Thursday night class also helps them to really feel they are an important part of the karate program, with realistic hopes of advancing to higher belts. Indeed, several of them already have earned yellow. As we waited to enter the dojo, I gave the donated Carleton University t-shirts honouring giving and volunteerism to the boys. There were just enough to go around, and they were very happily received. Seven more boys arrived late for class, possibly having been held up by their marabouts or finishing up their begging quotas. Unfortunately, having the exact number of t-shirts was too good to be true after all. At the beginning of class, a group of the little ones grabbed traditional brooms and swept clean the matts in preparation for class. It seemed to be an honour they sought out. Then, another difficuly, four of the boys did not have their gis, and would not be able to train. I sadly thought of the dozen extra uniforms I brought with me, back at the hotel. I will ensure this does not happen again by giving the instructor five or so extra gis to carry with him to class. I consoled the little ones who watched from the sidelines with granola bars and some hand sanitizer, which satisfied them entirely as they dabbed it all over themselves as if it were a fine perfume.

I was so impressed with the discipline, determination and joy of karate these little begging street boys displayed during their two hour training. After class I was approached by one of the younger kids who wanted me to know how happy they were to have karate. My heart felt too big for words.

Today I trained with the morning class, having promised them I would the night before. One or two did not believe I could be a black belt until they saw it for themselves in person. I loved practicing with the kids. In the afternoon we had a good meeting to discuss how to advance the karate program (we will be adding an extra day of morning training for the little ones at the centre, and a good ongoing communication plan is now in place to keep the all the karate kids informed of expectations for advancement and their progress toward higher belts, and an "in house" tournament will be held at Maison de la Gare every four months, and the supplementary meal plan will be advanced to include the Thursday night kids as well).

Today is World Talibe Day (although there are really only talibes in Senegal). There was music and a soccer tournament at the centre to celebrate. Hundreds of talibes participated in games and dancing, not wanting the fun to end, even for meal time. Amazingly we did not run out of food for what surely must have been four hundred kids. But, the sandwiches were smaller than usual.

After the music stopped and the talibes shuffled out into the dark streets to head to their daaras I made my way to the dojo. I arrived after training, in time to hear Sensei orienting the students about expectations for belt grading, realistic timelines, what life opportunities can be provided by karate, and how the unique opportunity to do karate was thanks to Robbie Hughes, me, and  Douvris Martial Arts in Canada. Wait a minute...gratitude is not what I want these boys to feel. I explained that sponsorship such as they receive is something given to worthy candidates because they deserve it, they have earned it, and good people feel lucky to have the chance to help other good people who deserve that help. The Sensei explained it is also important for them to feel gratitude, in order to better appreciate their opportunity. I can accept that. But, it feels odd. I do know, however, that we are sure doing something good here.