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World Service,5 mins

Benin: Understanding the tradition of facial scarring

The Fifth Floor

Available for over a year

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. ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ 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

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