Myrantblog

One of the first things I noticed upon stepping my feet in Kano are plate wielding children, shabbily dressed and moving from one place to another begging for alms. I  know what it means to beg but I was used to seeing disabled people do it. I didn't know that up north, it was a "norm". I later learnt that "dem no dey troway food for North o" because people who need food are out there on the street. From NYSC camp, when my food remained, I just wait for an Almajiri child to pass by then hand it over to him. The word "Almajiri" is an Hausa word meaning student. The Almajiri system of Islamic education can be traced from way back  before the invasion of Northern Nigeria by the colonial masters. It started in a town called Kanem-Borno. Years later, the Sokoto and Borno caliphate began to run the system together. Inspectors were made to go round the schools and thereafter report to the Emir on the state of the schools. The schools were close to the ch...