WARIS DIRIE IS OUR LEGENDARY WOMAN IN HISTORY!

Turning another year older is always exciting for a child. Imagine turning five in Somalia and your gift is a trip to a cutter - you're being circumcised on your birthday. Female circumcision, is the ritual removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. Typically carried out by a traditional circumciser using a blade or razor (with or without anesthesia), FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan, and found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East, and among diaspora communities around the world. The age at which it is conducted varies from days after birth to puberty; in half the countries for which national figures are available, most girls are cut before the age of five.

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Waris Dirie was born in 1965 into a nomadic family in Galkayo, Somalia. She has been a voice fighting for the elimination of female mutilation for the past 15 years. Her own traumatic experience allowed her to tell a story familiar to many women in Africa and ultimately led her to activism.

Waris Dirie was brutally mutilated at a very young age in Somalia. By the time she was 13 her family had promised her hand in marriage to a man old enough to be her grandfather. She fled her home to avoid the arranged marriage. Her escape led her through the desert to Mogadishu and eventually to London. The journey left her scarred, weak, and hungry.

Waris lived with family in London. She had no education, but she found work as a housemaid and also at a fast food restaurant. Later, she was able to find the time to take classes to learn to read and write English.

At 18 she was discovered while working at McDonalds by one of Britain's leading fashion photographers - Terrence Donovan. Her modeling career was ignited internationally. This ultimately led to her on-screen debut in a James Bond epic, The Living Daylights, starring Timothy Dalton.

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In 1998, Waris authored her first book, Desert Flower, an autobiography that went on to become an international bestseller. 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. Years later a feature film was released and won the Audience Award in the "Best European Film" category at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Waris Dirie went on to become one of the most influential women of all time. She was appointed the UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. In 2002, she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organization aimed at raising awareness.




By KGraves, CMorrison
Sources: Desert Flower Foundation
               Brittanica
              Wikipedia