Nicolas Remene / Le Pictorium - Baba El Hadj, a young schoolboy in Timbuktu, Mali. - 18/1/2020 - Mali / Tombouctou (Timbuktu) / Tombouctou (Timbuktu) - For the past year, two or three times a week after school, Baba El Hadj has been attending calligraphy classes with his teacher Boubacar Sadek at the Arts et Metiers workshop for manuscript copyists. The workshop is also located in the Djingareyber district, not far from the famous mosque of the same name in Timbuktu. He would like to make a living out of it one day and copy ancient manuscripts. Portrait of Baba El Hadj, a schoolboy in Timbuktu. Baba El Hadj Sidi Ahmed, 14, lives with his uncle Baba Moulaye Al Arby in the Djingareyber neighbourhood, not far from the famous mosque of the same name. His uncle is also the marabout of the Koranic school (Medersa) Cheick Bashir Mohamed Lemine created by his grandfather, which is adjacent to the family home and offers a traditional Muslim religious education. It is here that Baba El Hadj learns every morning to read, write and memorise the Koran in Arabic. The medersa currently accommodates about 180 young schoolchildren. At lunchtime, Baba El Hadj often eats at his uncle's house where one of his aunts, Yaya Baba, prepares Timbuktu specialities such as toukassou or widjila, before returning to the Yehia Alkaya Ibrahim secondary school. On average, Baba El Hadj spends 4 hours a day at the medersa and then 6 hours at the basic school where he studies general subjects such as French, history-geography, civic and moral education, English, mathematics and science. For the past year, two or three times a week after school, Baba El Hadj has been attending calligraphy classes with his teacher Boubacar Sadek at the Arts et Metiers workshop devoted to copyists applied to manuscripts. He would like to make a living out of it one day and copy ancient manuscripts.
