Waris Dirie

Waris Dirie (Waris Diiriye) (born 21 October 1965) is a Somali model, author, actress and human rights activist in the fight against female genital mutilation (FGM).

Dirie was born as one of twelve children into a nomadic family in 1965 in the area of Galkayo.

Her first name, Waris, means desert flower.

In her autobiography, Dirie explained how as a four-year-old, she was raped by her cousin.

After the rape took place, Dirie underwent an infibulation procedure to remove her labia and suture her vulva, following cultural ideals of purity (taharah) and shame (ebwaye).

Describing the procedure, Dirie said that she was blindfolded but allowed to experience the procedure with her other senses: "It's like somebody is slicing through the meat of your thigh, or cutting off your arm, except this is the most sensitive part of your body".

She also described herself fainting and having an out-of-body experience.

At the age of thirteen, she fled through the desert to Mogadishu in order to escape an arranged marriage to a 60-year-old man.

She first stayed there with relatives, although her escape was not tolerated.

One of her uncles, who was then the Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom, was looking for a maid.

With the help of her aunt, she convinced her uncle to hire her and take her to London, where she worked at her uncle's house for little pay.

After her uncle's four-year term, Dirie left and lived in a number of unstable housing arrangements, later renting a room in a YMCA.

She earned her living as a cleaner in a local McDonald's.

She also began evening classes to learn English.

Aged 18, Dirie was by chance discovered by photographer Mike Goss, as she stood waiting for her charge outside of his daughter's school.

Through getting the children to translate for them, Mike persuaded Waris to model for him.

Afterwards, he helped her get a portfolio together and get her representation, although a lot of modelling agencies claimed there was 'no call for black models'.

One of her first modelling jobs was for Terence Donovan, who photographed her in 1987 together with the then still unknown model Naomi Campbell for the title of the Pirelli Calendar.

From there, Dirie's modeling career took off, she soon became a successful model, appearing in advertisements for top brands such as Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon.

After experiencing painful menstruation, Dirie sought the advice of several doctors, but she declined to speak about the FGM that she had endured.

She eventually saw a doctor to have her vulva reopened.

From that point, she no longer found menstruation or urination painful.

She described the change as a "new freedom".

Because of her previous nomadic lifestyle, coupled with the poor nutrition she had at the time, she developed bowed legs.

By the time she considered surgery to have them fixed, her bones had set and surgery was not an option.

Over time, she incorporated her legs into her identity, coming to see them as an identifier of her nomadic history and of her African heritage.

As a model, Dirie was the first black woman to appear in an Oil of Olay advertisement.

She has described the catwalk as her favorite part of modeling, but she has a lesser opinion of the casting process, which she described as "mostly about disappointment".

In 1987, Dirie played a minor role in the James Bond film The Living Daylights.

She also appeared on the runways of London, Milan, Paris and New York City, and in fashion magazines such as Elle, Glamour and Vogue.

This was followed in 1995 by a BBC documentary entitled A Nomad in New York about her modeling career.

From 1997 to 2003, she was a UN special ambassador against female genital mutilation.

In 1997, at the height of her modeling career, Dirie spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the women's magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation (FGM) that she had undergone as a child, at the age of five along with her two sisters.

That same year, Dirie became a UN envoy for the abolition of FGM.

She later paid her mother a visit in her native Somalia.

She instructed her mother to intervene if anyone she knew were to undergo FGM, and her mother eventually asked for her forgiveness for subjecting her to the treatment.

In 1998, Dirie coauthored her first book along with nonfiction author Cathleen Miller: Desert Flower, an autobiography that went on to become an international bestseller.

Over 11 million copies have been sold worldwide to date, 3 million in Germany alone.

She later released other successful books including Desert Dawn, Letter to My Mother and Desert Children, the latter of which was launched in tandem with a European campaign against FGM.

In 2002 she founded her own organization in Vienna, the Desert Flower Foundation.