top of page
Search

A symbol of hope and survival, Waris Dirie

The name Waris translates to desert flower.

ree

“When I was a child, I said I do not want to be a woman. Why, when it is so painful and so unhappy. But now that I’m grown, I’m proud to be who I am. But for the sake of all of us, let us try and change what that means to be a woman.” — Waris Dirie

Waris Dirie is a Somali model, author, actress, and human rights activist who works to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in her home country and around the world. Waris is well-known for fighting this inhumane tradition surrounding women. In 2002, Dirie founded her own organization — the Desert Flower Foundation that advocates to stop Female Genital Mutilation within young girls, and planning for a brighter future for them. Her first name, Waris, means desert flower hence the name.


ree

Dirie was born as one of twelve children into a nomadic family in 1965 at Galkayo, Somalia. Aged 5, Waris suffered female circumcision in the form of infibulation — ritual removal of the external female genitalia and the suturing of the vulva, a practice found mainly in northeastern Africa, her country Somalia. She escaped an arranged marriage to a 60-year-old man through the desert of Mogadishu at the age of only thirteen. Dirie’s uncle, who was the Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom at that time, was looking for a maid. She convinced him and stayed in London at her uncle’s house for the time being. Dirie left when her uncle’s four-year term ended and lived in various insecure housing situations, eventually renting a room in a YMCA. She worked as a cleaner at a McDonald’s in the area. She also began taking English classes in the evenings.


At the age of 18, Dirie was discovered by photographer Mike Goss. Mike persuaded Waris to be a model, and that’s when her modeling career took off. Waris Dirie was offered to appear and model in advertisements for top brands such as Chanel, Levi’s, L’Oréal and Revlon. Her outstanding beauty and brain made it possible for her appearances in different movies, runways, fashion magazines, and even a BBC documentary entitled A Nomad in New York about her modeling career.



Dirie revealed up about the female genital mutilation (FGM) that she had suffered at the age of five in the women’s magazine Marie Claire at the height of her modeling career. In that same year 1997, Dirie was positioned as a United Nations envoy for the abolition of FGM.


In 1998, Dirie coauthored her first book along with Cathleen Miller: Desert Flower, an autobiography that became an international bestseller. Over 11 million copies sold worldwide, 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, Dirie founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna. The foundation collects money to raise awareness about the global problem of FGM and to help those affected. In the same year, she received the Corine Literature Prize.


In 2009, Desert Flower, a feature-length film based on Waris’ book Desert Flower was released, with the Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede playing her. Directed by Sherry Hormann, the film was produced by Oscar winner Peter Herrmann. Benjamin Herrmann and Waris Dirie were co-producers. The movie has been released in 20 countries, including France, Spain, Israel, Greece, Poland, and Brazil. In January 2010, it won the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich in the “Best Movie” category. It was also nominated for a Film Award in Gold in the “Outstanding Feature Film” category at the German Film Awards, and won the Audience Award in the “Best European Film” category at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.



Over the past couple years, Waris received numerous awards for speaking up and standing up for Women. HHer purpose was simple: to share her story—a painful one at that—in order to shed light and bring attention to female genital mutilation (FGM) and educate more people about it.

Some of Waris Dirie's prizes and awards for her humanitarian work and books including:

  • Woman of the Year Award (2000) 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)

  • 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

  • Woman Of The Year Campaigning Award (2013) in London presented by Sacla

  • International Freedom Prize (2014) presented at the House of Lords in London

  • 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


Article Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Dirie

Photo credits to PR Newswire, desertflowerfoundation.org, KLIK Magazine, brittanica.com, Vogue, Tropics, Reader's Digest, new African Woman, Allure, ebooks.com, insideadog.com.au



 
 
 

Comments


BINHI-BINI22.png

© 2022 by Jonah Hadjirulla. Proudly created with Wix.com

bottom of page