In her early teenage years, a young Maasai girl has her Coming of Age ceremony, an important ritual where she becomes a woman. Until recently, the ceremony has included Female Genital Mutilation -- a practice that would scar her for life. Although FGM is illegal in Kenya, the laws are rarely enforced.

BEADS for Education is committed to helping the Maasai eliminate the cutting, while respectfully supporting their traditions. Our alternative rite of passage was developed by the Maasai leaders themselves.

BEADS funded Patrick Papatiti, a Maasai leader of more than 8,000 warriors in the Amboseli region, to research the practice of FGM. He concluded that FGM was wrong, and that an alternative ceremony could be developed.

Since 2005, BEADS has been helping to host several alternative ceremonies each year, such as the one shown here. The ceremony remains appropriately traditional, and the result is just as meaningful to all involved.

Mama Esther (the local midwife and circumciser) held the first BEADS Coming of Age ceremony WITHOUT THE CUT for her daughter, Esther. Mama Esther said, 'This is important to us and Esther's sponsors.

Every ceremony without the cut shows the community that the rite can be just as meaningful without FGM. Here, relatives of an initiate show their support.

Through BEADS support, thousands of people have been educated about the negative impact of FGM.

Your support can help provide acceptable alternative rituals, and give girls the chance to enter womanhood in a healthy, happy way -- without the cut.