Photo by Stephanie Welsh, Copyright © 1996

Circumcised girls from surrounding villages paint Seita Lengila, 16, with ceremonial red ochre the night before her circumcision. They will spend the night there and calm her fears about the operation, convincing her that there will be no pain and that she will feel much better once she becomes a woman.

Most girls look forward to being circumcised because it gives them prestige within the community. It is also illegal within the tribe to marry an uncircumcised girl.

From a story on Maa-speaking tribes of Kenya and northern Tanzania.