Waris Dirie was born in 1965 in Somalia. He comes from a nomad family, a Somali tribe characterized by a nomadic lifestyle. Her name means “desert flower”. Waris was circumcised as a 5-year-old girl and then forced to flee across the desert to avoid marrying a 61-year-old man. She did not give up despite adversity and went through a lot to reach the top.
She was circumcised as a little girl. At the age of 13, she ran barefoot across the desert to escape hell
Waris has eleven siblings. They all grew up in a nomadic tribe, where the rite of circumcision is practiced to this day, i.e. the complete removal of a woman’s labia and clitoris. When Waris was circumcised with a rusty razor blade, she was 5 years old and nearly bled to death. It’s a traumatic experience in her book Desert Flower.
It’s like someone cutting off your arm or leg alive. I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I thought it was over, but the worst was yet to come. The murderer gathered a lot of thorns from the nearby acacia tree. She used them to pierce what was left after the surgery, and then thread a thick thread through the holes. My legs were numb, and the fire burning between them was so strong that I wanted to die. I looked at the stone: it was spattered with blood, as if some cattle had just been butchered. My body, my gender, lay there drying in the sun.
When she grew up, her parents decided to marry her to a 61-year-old man. She was only 13 years old when she ran barefoot across the , reaching her family in Mogadishu. Her uncle, who was working as Somalia’s ambassador to the UK, decided to get her a job in that country. That’s how she broke free from hell.
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Despite a difficult past, she made it to the top. Today, she helps other women
In the late 1980s, photographer Terence Donovan spotted her and included Waris in the Pirelli calendar. Since then, Somali women have gained momentum. She has been on the catwalks in Paris and New York and collaborated with many brands. In addition to her professional activities, she also developed charity activities. She dealt with human rights violations and women’s rights in Africa, and in the years 1997 to 2003 she was the UN ambassador.
Waris argues that society should do everything to ban circumcision. – Everyone needs to know that circumcision is not recommended or regulated by any religion and that this tradition is not part of the culture. That this is a pure violation of human rights,” Waris said in an interview with , adding that this ritual is still practiced in many African communities. Today, Waris Dirie divides her life between Austria and Poland, with which she fell in love. She has two sons, and in 2022, she founded the Flower of the Desert foundation to raise awareness of female circumcision issues.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
