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Waris Dirie (the name means desert flower) lives a double life - by day she is a famous model and UN spokeswoman on women's rights in Africa, at night she dreams of her native Somalia. Waris, one of 12 children, was born into a traditional family of desert nomads in East Africa. She remembers her early childhood as carefree- racing camels and moving on with her family to the next grazing spot - until it came her turn to meet the old woman who administered the ancient custom imposed on most Somalian girls: circumcision. Waris suffered this torture when she was just five years old. Then, aged 12, when her father attempted to arrange a marriage with a 60 year old stranger in exchange for five camels - she took flight. After an extraordinary escape through the dangerous desert she made her way to London and worked as a maid for the Somalian ambassador until that family returned home. Penniless and speaking little English, she became a janitor in McDonalds where she was famously discovered by a fashion photographer. Her story is a truly inspirational and extraordinary self-portrait of a remarkable woman whose spirit is as breathtaking as her beauty.
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Desert Flower, Waris Dirie
- Language
- Released
- 1999
- product-detail.submit-box.info.binding
- (Paperback)
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- Title
- Desert Flower
- Language
- English
- Authors
- Waris Dirie
- Publisher
- Virago Press
- Released
- 1999
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 256
- ISBN10
- 1860496067
- ISBN13
- 9781860496066
- Series
- The Flower of the Desert
- Tags
- True Stories, Biographies, Women, Autobiographies & Memoirs, Feminism, Great Britain, Africa, Adapted for Film, London, Escape, Based on True Events, Autobiographical Novels, Deserts, Female Circumcision, Somali Literature
- First published
- 1998
- Original title
- Desert Flower
- Rating
- 4.15 out of 5
- Description
- Waris Dirie (the name means desert flower) lives a double life - by day she is a famous model and UN spokeswoman on women's rights in Africa, at night she dreams of her native Somalia. Waris, one of 12 children, was born into a traditional family of desert nomads in East Africa. She remembers her early childhood as carefree- racing camels and moving on with her family to the next grazing spot - until it came her turn to meet the old woman who administered the ancient custom imposed on most Somalian girls: circumcision. Waris suffered this torture when she was just five years old. Then, aged 12, when her father attempted to arrange a marriage with a 60 year old stranger in exchange for five camels - she took flight. After an extraordinary escape through the dangerous desert she made her way to London and worked as a maid for the Somalian ambassador until that family returned home. Penniless and speaking little English, she became a janitor in McDonalds where she was famously discovered by a fashion photographer. Her story is a truly inspirational and extraordinary self-portrait of a remarkable woman whose spirit is as breathtaking as her beauty.