Children of Kenya Picture Series. February 2007.

A newly circumcised young man (left) who was circumcised not a few weeks before when the circumcisor passed through his nearby village helps and gives some guidance to a boy who has not yet been circumcised (right). A newly-initiated warrior will often braid his hair and wear colourful beads and a white cloak to make himself more attractive and to show that he has undergone the ritual and achieved passage to warrior status. Circumcision is an important ritual for all young men in Samburu culture. It is a ritual that marks the end of childlike things and ultimately sets the young man on the path to warrior status. The circumcision ritual happens once every 8 to 10 years and the boys, aged as young as 8 and sometimes as old as 20 are circumcised en masse in a 2 month-long ceremony as the circumcisor travels from village to village to complete his task. The event is an emotionally charged event and boys wait for what must be an eternity during the last week for the circumcision to take place. It is performed by a specially-anointed man whose skills are passed down from generation to generation. For each boy, the ceremony is performed without anaesthetic, only cold water to lull what must be overwhelming pain. Yet each boy faces the ritual with the utmost dignity - for even to flinch when the knife is brought to bear is to bring great shame on himself and his family. Throughout my time and work in Kenya between 2004 & 2008, it is always the memory of the many bright accentuated smiles that beamed out from many a young face that brightened a dark mood on a bad or dull day. Often in the face of extreme adversity, children in Kenya, and Africa as a whole always seem to show a remarkable uplifiting spirit. Maybe it is a desire on my part to try and understand that which makes them so happy, so blissfully at odds with the harsh circumstances that many of these children find themselves that always draws me back to photograph them again and again. The volume of work ha