Story this Wednesday!-The 'Desert Flower'
Story this Wednesday!-The 'Desert Flower'
Waris Dirie -Somali -meaning- Desert Flower
She was born in the Somali desert in 1965.One of twelve children in a nomadic family
She was born in the Somali desert in 1965.One of twelve children in a nomadic family
that herded goats across some of the harshest landscape on earth.By age six, Waris Dirie
was responsible for sixty goats and sheep.She walked them into the desert each day to
graze.Water was scarce. Food was scarce. Everything was about survival.
Her name means "desert flower."
At five years old, an old woman came for her. She used a broken, bloodied razor blade. No anesthesia. No sterilization.Waris was blindfolded. Given a tree root to bite down on. Held down by her mother while her aunt helped restrain her.Then the cutting began.Female
Her name means "desert flower."
At five years old, an old woman came for her. She used a broken, bloodied razor blade. No anesthesia. No sterilization.Waris was blindfolded. Given a tree root to bite down on. Held down by her mother while her aunt helped restrain her.Then the cutting began.Female
genital mutilation.Type III,the most extreme form. Everything removed.Everything stitched shut with acacia thorns and white thread, leaving an opening the size of a matchstick.The
pain was indescribable.One of her sisters died from complications. So did two of her cousins.
But Waris survived.
Her mother explained it had to happen. In the name of Allah. In the name of tradition
But Waris survived.
Her mother explained it had to happen. In the name of Allah. In the name of tradition
All girls must endure it.This was Somalia, where an estimated 98 percent of women
undergo FGM.At thirteen, her father made an announcement.He'd arranged her marriage.
To a sixty-year-old man.The bride price: five camels.Waris's mother quietly helped her daughter escape in the night.She fled alone across the desert.
A thirteen-year-old girl walking through one of the most dangerous landscapes on earth,
A thirteen-year-old girl walking through one of the most dangerous landscapes on earth,
with no map, no money, no protection.She made it to Mogadishu.From there, an uncle
who'd just been appointed Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom agreed to take her
to London as his maid.
She was illiterate. She spoke no English. She worked for her uncle's family without pay.When his term ended in 1985, the family returned to Somalia.Waris stayed.Illegally.
She rented a room at the YMCA. Found work cleaning at McDonald's. Took English classes
She was illiterate. She spoke no English. She worked for her uncle's family without pay.When his term ended in 1985, the family returned to Somalia.Waris stayed.Illegally.
She rented a room at the YMCA. Found work cleaning at McDonald's. Took English classes
in the evenings.She was eighteen years old. Alone in a foreign city. Learning to read and
write for the first time.
Then one day in 1987, a photographer walked into that McDonald's.Terence Donovan.One of the most famous fashion photographers in the world.He saw something in her face. Her striking beauty. Her unique presence.
He asked if she'd model.She said yes.That year, he photographed her for the Pirelli Calendar alongside a then-unknown model named Naomi Campbell.Overnight, everything changed.
Waris Dirie went from scrubbing floors to walking runways in Paris, Milan, London, and New York.She became the face of Chanel. Levi's. L'Oréal. Revlon.She was the first Black woman to appear in an Oil of Olay advertisement.She graced the covers of Vogue, Elle, and Glamour.
In 1987, she played a Bond girl in The Living Daylights. She was living the dream. But the nightmare never left her.Every day, she carried the physical and emotional scars of what had been done to her at five years old.She suffered chronic pain. Struggled with intimacy. Endured the lifelong consequences of FGM.For years, she said nothing.
Then in 1997, at the height of her modeling career, a journalist named Laura Ziv from Marie Claire magazine interviewed her.They were supposed to talk about her "African Cinderella" story. The rags-to-riches transformation.But Waris changed the subject.
"All of that fashion model stuff's been done a million times," she said. "If you promise to publish it, I'll give you a real story."Laura agreed.And Waris poured her truth into a tape recorder.She told the world what had happened to her. What happened to millions of girls like her. What continued to happen every single day.Female genital mutilation.
The interview was published under the headline "The Tragedy of Female Circumcision."It triggered a worldwide response.
Barbara Walters interviewed her on NBC. Media outlets across the globe picked up the story.
For the first time, FGM had a face. A name. A voice.That same year, 1997, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her as the UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of
Female Genital Mutilation.Waris retired from modeling at thirty-two.At the peak of her
career, when she could have kept the glamorous life going, she walked away.She had a
bigger mission.
She traveled the world on behalf of the UN. Met with presidents, Nobel Prize winners, Hollywood stars. Gave hundreds of interviews. Spoke at international conferences.She
She traveled the world on behalf of the UN. Met with presidents, Nobel Prize winners, Hollywood stars. Gave hundreds of interviews. Spoke at international conferences.She
wasn't just the supermodel with the beautiful face anymore.She was the survivor who
refused to stay silent.
In 1998, she published her autobiography, Desert Flower.It became an international
In 1998, she published her autobiography, Desert Flower.It became an international
bestseller, selling over eleven million copies worldwide in more than fifty languages.
People finally understood what FGM really was. Not a "harmless cultural tradition" but a
People finally understood what FGM really was. Not a "harmless cultural tradition" but a
brutal violation of human rights.
In 2001, she founded the Desert Dawn Foundation to raise money for schools and clinics
In 2001, she founded the Desert Dawn Foundation to raise money for schools and clinics
in Somalia.In 2002, she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna an organization dedicated to eradicating FGM worldwide.She opened the first holistic medical centers for
FGM victims in Berlin, Stockholm, Paris, and Amsterdam.
She wrote more books: Desert Dawn (2002), Desert Children (2005), Letter to My Mother.
In 2009, her life story was made into a film, Desert Flower, starring Ethiopian supermodel
She wrote more books: Desert Dawn (2002), Desert Children (2005), Letter to My Mother.
In 2009, her life story was made into a film, Desert Flower, starring Ethiopian supermodel
Liya Kebede.
The film won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Movie. It was shown in over twenty countries.
But Waris's greatest victory wasn't awards or bestsellers.It was change.Real, measurable change.When she started speaking out in 1997, more than 130 million girls and women had undergone FGM.
The World Health Organization estimated that 8,000 girls faced it every single day.Many people didn't even know it existed.
Today, thanks to Waris and countless activists like her, FGM is recognized globally as a human rights violation.A British Medical Journal study found that in East Africa, the rate of FGM in girls under fourteen dropped from 71 percent in 1995 to 8 percent in 2017.In West Africa: from 73 percent to 25 percent.In North Africa: from 57 percent to 14 percent.In 2003, fifteen African Union member countries ratified the Maputo Protocol, which promotes theeradication of FGM.In 2019, a London court sentenced a mother to eleven years in prison for circumcising her three-year-old daughter the first such conviction in British history.Countries around the world have passed laws criminalizing FGM.Education campaigns reach millions.And girls who would have faced the blade are being saved.Waris Dirie is now in her late fifties.She continues to fight.
"I want to end FGM once and for all in my lifetime," she says.From a five-year-old girl held down by her mother while an old woman cut her with a dirty blade.To a thirteen-year-old fleeing marriage across the desert.To an eighteen-year-old cleaning floors at McDonald's.
To one of the world's most famous supermodels.To the woman who broke the silence on one of humanity's most brutal practices.Waris Dirie didn't just survive.She transformed her pain into purpose.Her trauma into a global movement.Her silence into a voice that reached millions. Every girl saved from FGM is a testament to her courage.Every law passed against it carries her story.Every survivor who finds help at a Desert Flower Center walks in her footsteps.She was born a desert flower in the harshest conditions imaginable.Not only did she survive.She bloomed.And she made damn sure millions of other girls would get the chance to bloom too.Not as victims.But as the powerful, whole, unbroken women they were always meant to be.
The film won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Movie. It was shown in over twenty countries.
But Waris's greatest victory wasn't awards or bestsellers.It was change.Real, measurable change.When she started speaking out in 1997, more than 130 million girls and women had undergone FGM.
The World Health Organization estimated that 8,000 girls faced it every single day.Many people didn't even know it existed.
Today, thanks to Waris and countless activists like her, FGM is recognized globally as a human rights violation.A British Medical Journal study found that in East Africa, the rate of FGM in girls under fourteen dropped from 71 percent in 1995 to 8 percent in 2017.In West Africa: from 73 percent to 25 percent.In North Africa: from 57 percent to 14 percent.In 2003, fifteen African Union member countries ratified the Maputo Protocol, which promotes theeradication of FGM.In 2019, a London court sentenced a mother to eleven years in prison for circumcising her three-year-old daughter the first such conviction in British history.Countries around the world have passed laws criminalizing FGM.Education campaigns reach millions.And girls who would have faced the blade are being saved.Waris Dirie is now in her late fifties.She continues to fight.
"I want to end FGM once and for all in my lifetime," she says.From a five-year-old girl held down by her mother while an old woman cut her with a dirty blade.To a thirteen-year-old fleeing marriage across the desert.To an eighteen-year-old cleaning floors at McDonald's.
To one of the world's most famous supermodels.To the woman who broke the silence on one of humanity's most brutal practices.Waris Dirie didn't just survive.She transformed her pain into purpose.Her trauma into a global movement.Her silence into a voice that reached millions. Every girl saved from FGM is a testament to her courage.Every law passed against it carries her story.Every survivor who finds help at a Desert Flower Center walks in her footsteps.She was born a desert flower in the harshest conditions imaginable.Not only did she survive.She bloomed.And she made damn sure millions of other girls would get the chance to bloom too.Not as victims.But as the powerful, whole, unbroken women they were always meant to be.
Awards
Dirie has received many prizes and awards for her humanitarian work and books including:
Woman of the Year Award (1998) by Glamour magazine.
Corine Award (2002) of the umbrella association of the German bookselling trade.
Women's World Award (2004) from former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Bishop Óscar Romero Award (2005) by the Catholic Church.
Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur (2007) from former President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Prix des Générations (2007) by the World Demographic Association.
Martin Buber Gold Medal from the Euriade Foundation (2008), founded by Werner Janssen in 1981.
Gold medal of the President of the Republic of Italy (2010) for her achievements as a human rights activist.
Thomas Dehler Prize (2013) of the Thomas Dehler Foundation, presented by Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger
Woman Of The Year Campaigning Award (2013) in London presented by Sacla
International Freedom Prize (2014) presented at the House of Lords in London by British Minister Lynne Featherstone
Women for Women Award (2017), awarded in Vienna by the magazine "look!
Donna dell'Anno (2018) in Italy
Million Chances Award (2018) donated by the Fritz Henkel Foundation
Sunhak Peace Prize (2019) for her commitment to women's rights, awarded in Seoul.
-Searched and illustrated by Tejinder Kamboj
(1940 -20??)
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