“Desert Flower”: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad

At the age of five, she was subjected to the brutal practice of female genital mutilation, and at thirteen she ran away from home to escape a forced marriage to an older man.

It’s hard to believe, but this is the real story of Waris Dirie, now a successful model and activist.

Waris was born into a family of Somali nomads. After she fled, a relative who worked at the British embassy took her to London, where she worked as a nanny and housekeeper. When he was called back home, Waris stayed in the city illegally and got a job at McDonald's.

She was noticed by famous photographer Terence Donovan, who opened the doors to the world of fashion for her. Ten years later, already a successful model, Waris spoke publicly for the first time about the traumatic experience she went through as a child.

But she was not heard.

After that, she left her modeling career and became a human rights activist. Waris wrote her autobiography, Desert Flower, after which people began to talk about her not only as a model. She became a UN ambassador and dedicated her life to fighting female genital mutilation.

“People believe this problem only affects women in Africa. That’s exactly why it still exists. If something like this happened to men, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

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