Young Girls Lined Up Before Villagers To Undergo Tribal Circumcision

These pictures show frightened girls lined up before villagers in Kenya to be circumcised - even though the brutal practice is now illegal in the country. But in many African tribes, traditions are more important than laws and circumcision is considered a rite of passage that marks their transition into womanhood so they can marry. Reuters photographer Siegfried Modola captured this ceremony in rural Kenya for four teenage girls of the Pokot tribe, in Baringo County.

Draped in animal skin and covered in white paint, the girls squat over large stones in the remote village after being circumcised - a life-threatening custom banned in the country three years ago.

More than a quarter of Kenyan women have undergone the ordeal, despite government efforts to end the practice in the East African country. 'It's a tradition that has been happening forever,' the father of one of the girls, who asked not to be named fearing reprisal from the authorities, told Reuters from the isolated Pokot settlement some 80km from the town of Marigat. 'The girls are circumcised to get married. It's a girl's transition into womanhood,' he said.

Wrapped in bright coloured shawls, the girls spent the night huddled around a fire in a thatched-roof house as local women gathered to sing and dance in support. Circumcision is heavily practised among the Pokot community, and one of the girls' mothers believes it is a sign of strength.

'The pain will make her strong. She can show the rest of the community that she can endure it,' the woman said after having her daughter circumcised by a Pokot elder donning a beaded neck collar and large brass earrings. 'I'm proud of my daughter for doing this,' she said.

At its most extreme, circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation, involves cutting off the clitoris and external genitalia, then stitching the vagina to reduce a woman's sexual desire. Anything from razor blades to broken glass and scissors is used.

The U.N.'s Children's Fund, UNICEF, says more than 125 million women have been cut in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where genital mutilation is carried out.

Kenyan law provides for life imprisonment when a girl dies from the procedure, which in addition to excruciating pain, can cause haemorrhage, shock and complications in childbirth.

Photo Credit: Reuters
Source: MailOnline