This was captured during a traditional festival called Oudjombi in Togo on April 6, 2014. Oudjombi is a coming of age ceremony unique to the Solla, an isolated ethnic group in the Kara region of Togo. During this ceremony, young men are publicly circumcised by traditional priests and are not allowed to show pain. The origins of this ceremony date back to the slave trade, when southern tribes were armed by Europeans to capture the northern tribes and transport them to the ports to be sold into slavery. The northern tribes created these ceremonies as a way for their men to prepare themselves to defend their people. This photo shows one of the participants dressed as a women prior to his circumcision. Before he is cut, he will shed all feminine attire in order to symbolize his emergence as a Solla man.