Waris Dirie (Waris Diiriye)

Who is she?

Waris Dirie is a Somali model, writer and campaigner. She is best known for her fight to end female genital mutilation (FGM) (Wikipedia, Waris Dirie). Her name, Waris, means "desert flower" (same source).

Early life

She was born in 1965 into a herding family near Gaalkacyo, in the Mudug region, one of twelve children (Wikipedia). As a teenager she went to Mogadishu, and then to London to work in the house of a relative who was a Somali diplomat there (same source).

Modelling

In London she worked as a cleaner before starting to model. She went on to model for Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon. She was the first black woman to appear in an Oil of Olay advertisement, and had a small part in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights (Wikipedia).

Speaking out, 1997

In 1997, at the height of her career, she spoke publicly for the first time, to Marie Claire, about the FGM she had undergone as a child (Wikipedia). That year she became a UN special ambassador against FGM, a role she held until 2003 (same source).

Books and a film

With the writer Cathleen Miller she wrote Desert Flower (1998), her life story. It sold more than 11 million copies worldwide (Wikipedia). Later books include Desert Dawn, Letter to My Mother and Desert Children. A feature film, Desert Flower, came out in 2009 (same source).

Her foundations

In 2002 she founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, which works to end FGM worldwide (Desert Flower Foundation, Waris Dirie). She also set up the Desert Dawn Foundation to raise money for schools and clinics in Somalia (Wikipedia).

France made her a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 2007 for this work (same source).

In short

A model and author who campaigns against female genital cutting. See health in Somalia.