As Tucsonans prepare to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast with family, Elhadj Ndoye hopes we all take a moment to remember the orphans 6,000 miles away in Mbour Senegal, West Africa, who won’t enjoy either.
“There are more than 100,000 child beggars in Senegal who are out everyday from sunup to sundown begging for food and money. We can’t help them all, but we will do the best we can and hopefully our efforts will multiply over time,” said Ndoye, who founded The Forgotten Children in an effort to change the lives of street children.
The nonprofit will stage its 10th Annual Forgotten Children event at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 27, at MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida Del Convento.
The fundraiser seeks to raise at least $25,000 to complete the final phase of a boarding school in the region of Mbour Senegal that will feature a dormitory, school, kitchen, a trade school, gardens and space for domestic animals. The project is designed to house 80 to 100 kids, from kindergarten through high school.
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Many of the children, known as “talibés,” have been sent from poor, rural villages by their parents who contracted with marabouts (teachers) to provide the children with care and education. Traditionally, talibé children engage in farming and other enterprises to support the marabouts in exchange for their education, but many are brought to Senegal and forced to beg. Some have been abandoned completely, and others are runaways who crossed the border to the democracy of Senegal in search of a better life.
“Many of the kids have been sold for food or money, and others are asked to bring in $1 or $5 a day and if they don’t, they are beaten. Child exploitation has become a business there,” said Ndoye, who is director of business development for CorporateCARE Solutions.
A native of Senegal who came to Tucson in 1995 to attend school, Ndoye realized that the best way to help the children was to educate them so they could help themselves and the idea of the boarding school was born. While fundraising was slowed by COVID-19 last year, Ndoye is hopeful that the upcoming event will raise the funds needed to complete the project.
“There will be no more begging; this will be life-changing for these children,” said Ndoye.
