It was explained to me that as part of a special Maasai ritual, at the age of 7 years old, this woman was held down and burned on both cheeks with a hot metal branding iron from the fire.

I would genuinely like to know more information about what I photographed here, so if any of you happen to know anything more about this Maasai scarification ritual, I am all ears!

(I would also love to know more about WHO I photographed… but I’ve accepted the unlikelihood of that happening.)

I was introduced to this woman in Kajiado, Kenya, by a man who spoke more English than she did— but not by much. When I asked if she would allow me to photograph her, the man was able to communicate this to her and gain her permission, but when I tried to ask more complicated questions — like WHY her tribe did this to her, and why her SPECIFICALLY— we unfortunately didn’t get very far.

I spent enough time around the Maasai people to know that this was scarification was uncommon. I did not see any other Maasai women with scars like these on their cheeks, so I wanted to know how and why she was “chosen” to receive this… honor?

I still don’t even know for sure if the ritual was an honor or a punishment.

This is a frustration I am used to by now, because just like with so many of my experiences in remote places where there is a sizable language barrier, I am left with more questions than answers and an unclear understanding of what I have witnessed.

My Western brain has a knee jerk reaction to immediately denounce such a ritual as horrifyingly cruel and unusual, but I must continually remind myself that doing so would be ignorant on my part— as I simply do not have enough information about the circumstances or the Maasai culture to form an educated opinion on this matter.