Waris Dirie Somali : Waris Diiriye ; born 21 October is a Somali model, author, actress and human rights activist in the fight against female genital mutilation FGM. In she founded her own organization in Vienna , the Desert Flower Foundation. Born in Somalia, she moved to London where she began her modeling career.
As a model, Dirie was the first black woman to appear in an Oil of Olay advertisement. In , at the height of her modeling career, Dirie spoke publicly for the first time with the women's magazine Marie Claire about the FGM that she had undergone as a child, and would become a UN special ambassador against FGM that same year. She has created a platform for raising awareness about FGM that includes numerous foundations, campaigns, books, and documentaries.
Her first book, Desert Flower , is an autobiography that went on to become an international bestseller , selling over 11 million copies worldwide, and inspired the film Desert Flower She created two foundations: Desert Flower Foundation, an organisation whose goal is to eradicate female genital mutilation worldwide, and the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia.
Dirie was born as one of twelve children into a nomadic family in 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. 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 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.
