Waris Dirie Review (L)

In Religion class we read the story of Waris Dirie, Desert Flower. This is a very moving story about the tough life of Waris Dirie. Waris, as a young girl, lived in the Somalian desert. She knew that if she stayed in Somalia, she would live the life of a typical Somalian woman, doing all the work in the village, being forced to marry a stranger at a young age and living under his power for the rest of her life. The idea of this angered Waris and she knew she didn't want her life to turn out this way.

When Waris was five years old, her mother told her that she would undergo the process of 'becoming a woman' through female circumcision. This is an extremely painful operation that most Somalian girls go through. If they refuse this operation, they are shunned from their village and treated like they are worthless. This process consists of the female genitals being removed so the girl can never feel pleasure and so she is pure and 'clean'. The description of female circumcision or FGM (female genital mutilation) that Waris gave in her story was very shocking and shows the pain that women all over the world go through just for the sake of 'Culture'. Unfortunatley, Waris went through the worst kind of circumcision, leaving her in pure agony everyday of her life.

When Waris was 13 years old, after being forced to meet her arranged future husband, who was years her senior, she decided to run away from home fleeing to Mogadishu to find her aunt. She ran across the desert without any food and water, almost dying but after she was advanced on by a hungry lion, and the lion left her alone, she believed this was a sign from God to continue on. Waris was lucky enough to find her aunt.

After working in Mogadishu for a short amount of time, Waris traveled to London to live with another aunt and work as a maid for the Somalian Embassador, her uncle.

After years of Waris working as a maid, her aunt and uncle decided to go back home to Somalia, but Waris wanted to stay in London . She began working in a fast food restaurant. One day she was spotted by a photographer who thought she was very beautiful. He gave her his card and told her to contact him. The card always stayed on her mind, she had a feeling she should call the number, so one day she did. When she went to see the photographer again, he took pictures of her and told her she had the most beautiful profile he had ever seen.

Waris went on to have a very succesful career as a supermodel , appearing on the cover of Vogue and Elle, all over the world.

After living a life full of pain, Waris had a life changing operation. The doctor told her he couldn't give her back what she had but he could make sure she wouldn't be in pain anymore.

Waris became a human rights activist, fighting back against FGM. In 1997, she was appointed UN Special Embassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. I found this story very inspiring, seeing someone who came from nothing becoming this successful and influencial on the world.

Ciara Xxx