The Dassenech celebrate their girls coming of age and being circumcised. FGM is common throughout Ethiopia and although dying in urban areas it is still widely practiced. Two of the Omo valley tribes have this practice, the Dassenech and Arbore. They take pride in it, celebrate it and a girl cannot marry without it. It is a ritual which is imperative in their culture. The festival, known as Dimi, only happens once a year and our timing was very fortunate as being able to attend such an auspicious event is quite rare. We were the only ‘outsiders’ there and it was clear they had seen few travellers. The reaction of the kids, in particular, was something I won’t forget. They were excitable to the point of being frenzied. The Dimi, is a ritual which marks the transition to puberty for the girls of the village and prepares them for marriage. The Dassanech families with daughters of similar age, generally between 8 and 14 years, gather near the banks of the Omo River, during the dry season; each clan has its own special site where to celebrate the Dimi and where they families of the girls gather for the period of the ceremony. During the celebration, men and women dress in animal fur cloaks to celebrate and dance, while elderly village chiefs bless the girls. The men adorn themselves with yellow clay on their faces and torsos, have leopard skins or capes over their backs and hats of ostrich feathers. Additionally they wear a giraffe tail armband, a short leather loin wrap and bells on both legs. He carries in one hand a small symbolic wooden shield painted red and white and in the other he carries a very long stick reminiscent of a lance or spear. The ceremonial outfit hangs on a pole outside the family house The women all had the skins of colobus monkeys on their back and were bare breasted.