Waris Dirie: The Desert Flower

Waris in somalian language means desert flower. Her story was about a powerful somalian women. She spent most of a childhood, as a nomad in Somalia, where life was never easy. But she chose a different path, than the one she was supposedly destined to follow. Waris went on to live her life in England, and become a model. She completely changed her own life, and by her actions, she now hopes to make a different in other's lives. This is an inspiring and emotional story, but mostly, because of an inspiring and emotional human being.

As a child, Waris lived with her brothers and sisters, as a nomad in somalia. Nomad families usually live a long and tough life in the wide, dry desert. Every ressource is limited, and it must be used with moderation. They posess a herd, and use the little quantity of milk given from their goats, to survive. For Waris, being a girl was making her life even harder. An african nomad girl as basically no decisions to make for herself. Usually the father gives the orders for his wife and the rest of the family. It's really a hard journey for a women to go threw.

Actual scene filmed in Somalia, for the movie version of the book. Here, we have a representation of little Waris with her herd

As I said before, being a women in Somalia, is the hardest thing she ever had to go threw. She described what was for her the day that changed her life. At the age of 4 or around, a little somalian girl must be circumcised to become a women. It consists of a modification of a girl's genital area. Pieces are removed to assure her virginity by the time she gets married. As a little girl, Waris never wanted to become a women, at least not this way. She now realises the consequences of this act of mutilation that was imposed to her when she was to young to understand. People of her culture always told her she was unpure and dirty as an uncircumcised girl. When you've been told that all your childhood, you accept it. And like this wasn't enough, at the age of 6 years old, her father introduced her to her « husband », a 80 years old man. This was the breaking point for her. She had had enough, so she left. She kissed her mama goodbye and ran away in the night, as silently as possible.

You cannot describe this women in one word. I personally think she's really inspiring, and for many reasons. She's courageous, brave, perseverant, strong, powerful etc. There is so much to her personnality that helped go threw her incredible journey as an unlikely women from such a difficult background. It's already tough to be a women in a society, but to be a women from an entire different culture, and to try to fit in this society is even harder.

There were so many episodes in her life that defined her for who she is today. -When she tells us about her circumcision in the book, she gives us a detailed description of the pain she goes threw, and I can't think of a better word but strong, to describe her at this particuliar moment of her difficult life. -Also she showed so much courage and perseverance , when she ran away from her family, and walked for days in the dry and dangerous desert of Somalia. She never stopped until she walked all the way to the city of Mogadishu. -She's also an incredibly powerful woman for going to the United Nations to defend women's rights, and define what it means to BE and BECOME a woman.

As a nomad, Waris used to be very respectful of her traditions and culture. But as she grew older, she understood the cruelty of this act, and she now admires women of ber country, like her mother. She went threw the same ritual, and gave birth to all of ger 9 children. She worked hard as a mom, and as a nomad, to keep her family alive. Now, she thinks about all the little girls in Africa that suffer and die from this ancient tradition. When she learned about the UN's stats about FGM(female genital mutilation), she was heartbroken and felt the need to help those millions of little girl living with pain.

A lot of Waris implication in this cause, was to communicating her story to make people realise the damage made by circumcision. She did a lot of speaches, interviews and conferences. She really wanted to make a change by telling people. Even if it would upset true Somalian nomad, she chose to tell her secret to the world. She was hopping to get reactions. And coming from such a private culture in Somalia, this was a really big decision to make. Waris saw it this way; "Let it be. Lose your dignity if that's what it takes." (p.214) She contacted, and was contacted by some organization, to pass on her message. So I guess you can say she has done quite a lot in her life. She got pass her teryfing personnal experiences, and now, with that in mind, she's able to make people aware of that issue.

As a former model, Waris had some advantages, that helped to make a change. At first, she was asked for an interview by the magazine "Marie Claire". But right away, she chose not to tell her story about fashion modelling. She said to the interviewer, " If you promise to publish it, I'll give you a real story." (p.214). And so, she told her how she was circumcised. The publicist must have been so shocked by the horrifying story, because he published it in the magazine. People began to react, and many interviewers and schools approached Waris. She made many speechs and conferences, to shake things up, and make people react. This issue was big, and still is today. Many associations like 28 too many tried to prevent this genital mutilation towards women.

But Waris biggest step for a change was probably the speech gave at the United Nations. She was contacted by the UN, and they asked her if she could be the ambassador of the Female Genital Mutilation. And of course she accepted. It was part of a world heath organization.

A campaign about Female Genital Mutilation

One of Waris many speechs about circumcision.

I for one think she's an incredible women, who had the guts to talk about it, to make people aware of it. Every day, she hopes to save more girls from this cruel and soulless act.

Created By

Justine Pelletier

Appreciate

Credits:

THE SUNDAY TIMES. «I’m going home to try and save Africa’s girls, says model », News, [en ligne]. [http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk] (24 octobre 2016) TOP SANTÉ.COM. «Des drapeaux mutilés pour dénoncer l'excision », Votre santé & bien-être au quotidien, [en ligne]. [http://www.topsante.com] (24 octobre 2016) AMÉLIORE TA SANTÉ. « Le Nigéria interdit l’excision !», Améliore ta santé, [en ligne]. [http://amelioretasante.com] (24 octobre 2016) ZANAKAY. « Desert Flower », Zanakay, Thinking out loud, [en ligne]. [https://zanakay.wordpress.com] (24 octobre 2016) VIMOOZ. « REVIEW: Desert Flower – True Story of Somalian Supermodel Waris Dirie», Vimooz, [en ligne]. [http://www.vimooz.com/] (24 octobre 2016) UNITED NATIONS. « Portrait of Waris Dirie, Goodwill Ambassador for United Nations Population Fund », News & Media Photo, [en ligne]. [http://www.unmultimedia.org/] (24 octobre 2016) HOLA.COM. « Waris Dirie », Fashion, [en ligne]. [http://www.hola.com/] (24 octobre 2016) PURE PEOPLE. « Les explications du mannequin Waris Dirie retrouvée après 3 jours de disparition... », Pure People, [en ligne]. [http://www.purepeople.com] (24 octobre 2016) PARADISE IN THE WORLD. « Somalia », Paradise in the world, [en ligne]. [http://paradiseintheworld.com] (24 octobre 2016) THE HUFFINGTON POST. « On Waris Dirie, Our Monday Muse », The Huffington Post, [en ligne]. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/] (24 octobre 2016)

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Waris Dirie: The Desert Flower

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