These men are the heads of families and the elders of the Turkana tribe from northern Kenya. For days and weeks they watched me as I photographed their daughter and their wives. They came to watch me every morning under the same tree, some distance from my actual work site. Then one day I asked my assistant and translator why those men were sitting over there. He said, "Elisabeth, they are waiting for you to ask them to model for you. They are the Headmen and are wondering why you only photograph the women when they are the Chiefs?" I quickly invited them over and apologized respectfully. I asked them to stand together so that I might photograph them at once. In many parts of Africa, you are considered an animal until you demonstrate that you are fully human. The ostrich feathers worn by the Headmen are a symbol of wisdom and are offered only when a man has demonstrated is full humanity.

---from the journals of Elisabeth Sunday, Kenya, 1988