'The Desert Flower'

                       Warris Dirie

In religion, class Fódla studied all about the millenium development goals.We watched the story of Waris Dirie, who was a woman from Somalia who experienced many struggles related with gender equality, which is a vital goal. As a child, Waris was degraded as a woman and suffered from the harsh culture within Somalia. When she reached her teenage years, the Samalian tradition continued and Waris was seperated from her family to be married to a much older man. Her mother took a risk and sent her running to escape this arranged marriage and Waris soon emigrated to England where she found a job and also room mate. Waris spent her time working in a fast food restaurant and was soon discovered by the top photographer, Terence Donovan. Waris set out and became one of the top models featuring in many fashion shows and made the cover of magazines such as Vogue.She also did advertisements for brands such as Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon. As she became known to the world, Waris began her mission to reach out to the UN to banish these cruel traditions in Somalia. She worked to campaign globally and in 1997, at the height of her modeling career,she spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the women's magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation and the harsh practises carried out in her native country. She also created a movie, named 'The Desert Flower' which told her story as we witnessed her troubles throughtout her life in Somalia. Waris soon became a UN embassoder and is working to ban these practises and achieve gender equality throughout the world.