Waris Dirie was born near Galkayo, Somalia, one of twelve children in a nomadic herdsmen family. When she was five years old, she and two of her sisters underwent female genital mutilation (FGM) – female circumcision, a common practice in her tribal tradition. Growing up, she looked after the family’s herd, and by the age of 6, Dirie was responsible for taking about 60 goats and sheep to graze in the desert.
At 13, her father had announced that she would marry a 60 years old man who traded her for five camels. Backed up by her mother, she managed to escape from her home. After a long and dangerous journey through the desert, she arrived at relatives in Mogadishu and from there to London, where she worked as a maid for her uncle, who was the Somali ambassador to the United Kingdom. When the uncle’s term ended, Dirie rented a room at the YMCA, earned her living as a cleaner in McDonald’s, and took English classes in the evenings.
In 1983, at 18, she was spotted by the photographer Mike Goss who asked to take a picture of her. Soon after, she began to receive offers from casting agents. In 1987, 22 years old Dirie had her first big modeling job with the renowned fashion photographer Terence Donovan for the Pirelli Calendar. Afterward, her career took off with advertisements for Chanel, Revlon, and Levi’s, runway shows in New York, Milan, and Paris, and appearances in the top fashion magazines, including Vogue, Elle, and Glamour.
In 1997, aged 32, at the pick of her modeling career, Dirie had an interview for Marie Claire magazine, in which she spoke for the first time about the FGM she had as a child. Following her brave testimony, she got nominated as a UN Special Ambassador against female genital mutilation. In this position, she traveled around the world, giving speeches on the subject of FGM, raising the global awareness of the act, and promoting her mission to prevent future generations of girls and women from suffering as she did. At the time, the World Health Organization estimated that more than 130 million women had undergone FGM, and in Somalia, Dirie’s homeland, 98% of the women had the procedure.
In 1998, Dirie published her autobiography Desert Flower, in which she details her story as an FGM victim and her journey from a child bride in Somalia to a supermodel in the UK. The book became a bestseller, sold more than a million copies worldwide, and was adapted into a film and a musical.
In the early 2000s, Dirie retired from modeling to dedicate her time to activism. In 2001, she founded the Desert Dawn Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds for clinics and schools in Somalia. The following year, she established the Waris Dirie Foundation that focused on abolishing FGM. In 2009, she co-founded the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights, and in 2013, she opened in Berlin the first holistic medical center in the world for the treatment and care of FGM victims, followed by other centers in Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Paris. Dirie continues to advocate for the cause, giving speeches in front of world leaders around the world urging them to take action against FGM that is still happening in many cultures around the globe.
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