En garde! Fencing helps young Senegalese play by the rules

W ith knees bent and his sword angled upwards, 14-year-old Souleymane Ndiaye* lunges towards his opponent. A dozen other young Senegalese boys – who have been in prison or care homes – scuttle back and forth along several playing strips (known as pistes), thrusting and parrying. Metallic clinks resonate around the fencing room on the edge of the city of Thiès, 40 miles east of the capital, Dakar.

“The physical sensation gives me a release,” says Ndiaye, removing his mesh mask and wiping the sweat from his face. “But the most important thing is that fencing has taught me how to respect others – my opponents and the coaches.”

Since 2012, more than 1,200 young people aged between five and 17 have taken part in fencing classes, according to Pour le Sourire d’un Enfant (“For a Child’s Smile”), the charity that organises the programme with Senegal’s prison authorities and justice ministry. Among them are more than 500 young inmates, none of whom have been rearrested since serving their time.

The classes form part of the Fencing and Restorative Justice scheme developed by Nelly Robin, who runs Pour le Sourire d’un Enfant alongside her work as a researcher with the French thinktank Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (Research Institute for Development).

Participants follow a 60-lesson programme that is geared towards instilling a sense of identity, responsibility, respect and self-discipline. The fencing classes are often mixed, providing a rare opportunity for male and female inmates to socialise.

The idea came to Robin in 2008 when she first took her young son to a fencing club. “There were children there who were hyperactive and had problems at home and at school. But as soon as they stepped on to the piste, they