麻豆社

Tribal body marking has a long history in Africa. In some communities, a child's face is incised at an early age for it to grow up with a pattern of scars that will identify lineage and ethnicity. Today, the practice is stigmatised though it still continues in many countries. 麻豆社 Afrique's Laeila Adjovi travels to Benin, where her own ancestors are from, to understand the tradition of facial scarring - the ceremonies and the secret meaning of these marks.

Image: Telesphore Sekou Nassikou is an editor at a local radio in the northern town of Natitingou in Benin. He is an educated, urban Otamari, and very proud of his ethnic marks. Photo by: Laeila Adjovi