Talibe Trust was established initially as an organisation to raise money to support local organisations that aided the Talibe children in Saint-Louis in the ways of food, medication and education in the city of Saint-Louis.

 

It soon became evident that the problems were ongoing and the number of children living and begging on the street were increasing in numbers.

Talibe Trust evolved after much research and dialogue to become an organisation that sought solutions to the problems through inclusion and participation.

 

 

 

Talibe Trust CEO and founder Melanie Horstead first went to Saint-Louis, Senegal in 2012 to work on a journalism placement with Projects Abroad. Whilst there she learnt Wolof and Wolofal and she started to decipher written religious texts. She spent a lot of time researching the different religious institutions in Senegal and she travelled widely. Whilst living in Senegal she started to work briefly with the talibe children and she became determined to do whatever she could to make the situation better for them. On her return to the UK, she researched the sociocultural, historical, and political context of the talibe situation in Senegal, and went on to form Talibe Trust.

 

Talibe Trust would like to extend its sincere thanks to all the people at Tostan www.tostan.org for enabling us to carry out the much needed research and for helping us with their guidance on our mission.