Tasaru Safehouse For Girls

NAROK, KENYA - DECEMBER 21: Pirias Jeniffer Kiok, 17, holds a bible inside her dormroom at the Tasaru Safehouse for Girls December 21, 2006 in Narok, Kenya. The Tasaru Safehouse supports board, lodging and education of young Maasai girls from preteens to late teens who seek refuge from female circumcision and early marriage. In 2001, the Kenyan government passed the Children's Act which highlights the right of a child to receive an education. It also issues a ban on what is now referred to as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and early marriage (below 18 years). News of the recent law and the conviction to conform with the changing belief system has not reached many in the rural and remote areas of the Rift Valley. She went to Tasaru at the age of 14 a few days short of becoming someone's wife. Feeling betrayed and disrespected by her disobedience, her parents do not wish to see or hear of her. Her faith, she says, is a great source of strength for her and she continues to look forward to the day when she will be reunited with her family. (Photo by Marvi Lacar/Getty Images)