Often the result is infection, chronic health problems or even death. Welsh said wasn't easy for her to watch as young women were mutilated. You feel like you're just not going to make it through. Welsh was determined to show the real violence involved. There was no question whether I would do this or not.
Photos show village women celebrating in elaborate, colorful costumes.
Other photos are quiet testimony to the horror of the rite. One photograph shows a hand brandishing the razor, another shows Lengila's bare feet surrounded by a pool of blood. In addition to the Pulitzer, the photos took a second place award in the People in the News Stories category of the 1996 World Press Photo contest. In the 1996 College Photographer of the Year Competition, sponsored by the University of Missouri and the NPPA, Welsh was awarded third place in portfolio. I didn't realize that it was so much money.