"The · darkest · thing · about · Africa · has · always · been · our · ignorance · of · it"

In Wassu, we went searching for Fatoumata Ceesay, the unofficial preferred Fula Scar woman for Peace Corps volunteers across The Gambia.
We found her, and after some chatting, introductions, and washing up, she got to work.
I was second, so I got to watch as she started on the volunteer I'd traveled with.  The guidelines were already drawn on, so she began by drawing a (brand new, sterlized!) razor blade down each of the lines, using a small stick to keep the razor straight:
Once that was done, she rubbed burnt peanut shell ash into the three lines she'd made with the razor:
All done!
Now it was my turn.  My design was a little more complicated than the regular three-lined Fula scar design.  My design had 8 lines.  First cut (with a different, also brand new and sterilized razor, so stop worrying):
All 8 cuts completed (ouch!):
Rubbing in the burnt peanut shell ash:

In summary: