Waris Dirie: the flower of the desert who declared war on humiliation in Somalia!

She should have bled to death on a stone under a tree and the hot African sun, like one of her sisters. She was supposed to become the fifth wife of a nomad, be subjected to beatings and violence, and die during her first birth, like her other sister. She must have died of starvation or attack by wild animals during a lonely journey through the Somali desert.

Now that it is known that Waris Dirie has had a successful career as a model, was the first to speak out about the barbaric custom of female circumcision, was a UN ambassador to combat this tradition and organized several foundations to protect the rights and dignity of women, it becomes clear why nothing that should happened, didn't happen to her.

The day that changed everything

Varis has lived a long life, but she would still like to change only one day in it - when she, a 3-5 year old girl, was circumcised. The mother took the child to a stone, where a special person cut off the girl’s clitoris, labia majora and minora with a rusty blade. After this, the perineum was sewn up, leaving a tiny hole for urination and menstruation, now these processes will cause hellish pain every time. Many girls after such operations die from blood poisoning or later, during childbirth. A circumcised woman will never experience sexual pleasure. Varys still remembers his anger:

When they tried to convince me that God wanted this, I said: “Did my God really hate me that much?” I remember telling my mother, “If he hates me, then I don’t want him.”

When it was all over, she says she lay there talking to God and asked:

Make me stay alive. You owe me this now.

An unmarried girl has no place in the culture of nomadic peoples. To get married, a woman must get rid of her “vicious” nature through circumcision. After the girl is stitched up as a child, she is “opened” by her husband on her wedding night. From ancient times to the present day, millions of women have been subjected to this monstrous procedure and remain morally and physically disabled. Many years later, in a BBC documentary about his life, Waris would say:

Every day I try to understand why this happened to me - this cruel thing that has no excuse, no matter what they say about “purity” and religion. I can't put into words how angry this still makes me. Emotionally, I will never be able to completely escape the situation that happened to me.

The escape

Varis says her childhood was happy. She was born into a tribe of cattle breeders in a picturesque environment, surrounded by numerous brothers and sisters. When the girl turned 13 years old, her father agreed on her marriage with an elderly man. The groom received another young wife into the house, the bride's parents received five camels - the deal was successful. Varis did not want to accept her fate. Early in the morning she ran away from her home in the hope of reaching Mogadishu and finding shelter with distant relatives. As Varis later says, her mother could not help her, but did not interfere:

She woke me up before dawn and said: “Go away and find out your happiness.” She comes from the city, also ran away from her parents and married my father for love. She knew I was different. Giving me a blessing was not easy for her. I could die of hunger, become the prey of a wild beast. But she trusted me. I love her.

For several days the girl wandered through the Somali desert. The memory of this will remain in the form of terrible scars on her legs. Relatives in Mogadishu could not believe that a 13-year-old child could go this far and survive.

Childhood and youth

The catwalk star was born into a tribe of Somali nomads in 1965. The exact date of birth of the beauty, whose name means “desert flower,” is unknown. According to tribal traditions, parents did not bother recording the birthdays of their children; there were many of them, and half did not live to adulthood. Varis had 11 brothers and sisters, six of whom died in childhood and early adolescence.

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Varis Dirie and her mother
Two of the model’s sisters became victims of female circumcision: one died a couple of days after this, the other died 10 years later, unable to give birth. The fact is that the barbaric procedure, the purpose of which is to forever deprive the future woman of the pleasure of intimacy, not only mutilates the female genital organs, but is also carried out without anesthesia and in unsanitary conditions.

At the age of 5, Waris was also circumcised. And when the girl, who nursed her younger brothers and sisters and herded cattle, turned 13 years old, she was wooed by a rich old man. The groom promised the parents 5 dromedaries (one-humped camels) for the bride. Varis decided to escape. The girl's mother did not help her daughter, but did not prevent her from escaping.

Barefoot, Waris walked through the desert to the capital of Somalia, Mogadishu, where relatives lived. The girl covered 697 km, miraculously avoiding becoming a victim of predatory animals and rapists. In the capital, Diriyeh, she worked at a construction site, and then one of her distant relatives went to work at the Somali embassy in the UK and agreed to take Waris with him as a housekeeper and nanny.

Published by Waris Dirie Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Model Waris Dirie in his youth

When the Somali diplomat was recalled to his homeland, the girl remained in London as an illegal migrant. Dirie studied English, worked in a fast food restaurant, and to avoid deportation, she entered into a fictitious marriage. The beautiful dark-skinned girl attracted the attention of fashion photographer Terence Donovan, thanks to whom Varis’s photo graced the pages of the Pirelli calendar in 1987.

In the late 80s and early 90s of the 20th century, Varis became the face of fashion brands, appeared on the covers of glossy publications and starred in the James Bond film Sparks from the Eyes. In 1997, at the peak of her modeling career, Dirie spoke about female circumcision in a conversation with Marie Claire correspondent Laura Ziv. The interview had a huge resonance, and Waris became the UN ambassador to combat the barbaric procedure.

London

From Mogadishu, Waris was sent to London, to the house of the Somali ambassador, who was a distant relative of hers. For several years the girl worked as a servant for them. According to Varis, the attitude towards her was not friendly. During these years, Varis, after much doubt, decides to undergo surgery on the genitals. She saved the girl from constant pain, although it was impossible to completely restore the crippled body and restore sensitivity.

When the ambassador's family left London, Waris stayed behind to earn money and help her mother. So the Somali nomad began working as a cleaner in a fast food restaurant. Then everything is as in typical stories of models - a photographer accidentally notices her and invites a girl with an unusual appearance to the studio. Next - shooting for the cover of the legendary Pirelli calendar for 1987, advertising for Revlon with Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Lauren Hutton, shooting in Elle, Glamor and Vogue.

In 1995, the successful model falls in love with musician Dane Murray, and two years later gives birth to her first son. In 1997, Varis was invited to another interview in Marie Claire magazine. Suddenly the girl declares that she is tired of the story “from the Somali desert to the covers of magazines” and wants to talk about something really important. This conversation shocked the journalist, and the interview itself caused a great public outcry.

For the first time, someone openly raised the topic of female circumcision. Waris spoke about herself and about millions of women, about their psychological trauma, health problems, inability to enjoy sex and feelings of inferiority. Later, when she is asked why she decided to open up in that particular interview, Varis will say that thoughts about the fate of women like her never left her, she was just waiting for the right moment.

Do you know the difference? You can't go up to someone and cut off their hand and say, "This is tradition." No, this is a crime. You'll go straight to jail. But there, of course, the vagina is a woman’s problem, at this moment no one says anything.

Waris Dirie

The story of Waris Dirie is very interesting. She was born in 1965 into a nomadic family in Somalia. By the way, the year of her birth varies as well as the transcription of the pronunciation of the name (some sources indicate the year 1956). She herself cannot name the exact date of her birth, since at that time this kind of information was simply not taken into account anywhere or by anyone in her country, and, therefore, was not preserved.

I think that now the situation has not changed much, because the people of the desert are more busy surviving in a harsh environment than registering the birth dates of their children, of whom, according to statistics, there are more than 10 people per family.

The Varis family had 12 children, and there were problems with food in the desert, not to mention healthcare. Of the 12 children born, only 6 survived, among whom was Varis.

Since childhood, the future podium star showed a rebellious character, for which she was often punished. She very movingly describes stories from her childhood, one of which involves her desire to get a pair of shoes. At a young age, Varis simply did not have shoes, but in later life she more than made up for this emptiness.

At the age of 5, Waris underwent female circumcision, the process of female genital mutilation, or FGM as it is now commonly known. This changed her future life and determined a goal that she is still successfully implementing to this day.

After this barbaric painful procedure, the girl took a long time to come to her senses and even now admits that she did not achieve full healing, both physical and spiritual.

At the age of 13, Waris runs away from home in fear of being married to an old man who paid her father 5 camels for his daughter. After this, the girl wandered through the desert for a long time in search of the city where her sister lived. She twice miraculously escaped the threat of violence, almost died in the mouth of a lion, suffered from hunger and thirst, and still made it to her sister’s house, where she found shelter for a while, earning her keep by actually serving as her sister’s housekeeper.

After Varis left her sister’s house, she had to serve in two more houses of her aunts. She even managed to work as a mason at a construction site and earn $60 for her beloved mother before an influential relative took her to London so that young Varis could help his wife around the house.

A fourteen-year-old girl arrived in London with a fake passport of an eighteen-year-old Somali citizen, a single pair of shoes and high hopes for a bright, dignified future, which came true, but not immediately. She worked for her uncle, the Somali Ambassador in London, for 4 years, carefully cleaning the house and looking after his children.

When Waris was about 16, she was noticed by photographer Malcolm Fairchild, whose daughter studied with Waris's student. Malcolm invited her to pose for his photographs, the frightened girl refused, but still kept the business card. Since then, Malcolm desperately tried to persuade the girl more than once and even turned to Aunt Varis for this, but he was faced with the constant refusal of the girl and her relatives.

They had a chance to work together only two years later, when Varis finally decided to pose for Malcolm’s photo, agreeing with the persuasion of her close friend Halva. Two months after the shooting, Varis was invited to the first casting at the Crawford Modeling Agency, where she showed up in a red dress and white sneakers, which she still remembers with a smile.

The agency staff sent the young beauty straight to the casting for the annual Pirelli Calendar, and Varis signed her first contract, according to which her fee was 500 pounds per day of work. This amount was simply fabulous for Varis, because before that she worked for pennies at a McDonald's diner and lived in a dormitory with pensioners and students. After working for Calendar, Waris starred in one of the James Bond films, Sparks from the Eyes. Starring Timothy Dalton.

It is worth noting that Varis went to the shooting of this film with a fake passport in the name of Marilyn Monroe, and this made her very nervous throughout the entire trip. After the first success in the modeling field, there was a lull. Waris was left without money and a permanent job, was forced to live with friends and tried to resolve problems with citizenship and obtaining a British passport. She has repeatedly become a victim of scammers and was under threat of deportation to Somalia. But nothing could stop her, because Varis tried for her mother, whom she dreamed of providing for a dignified old age.

As a result, she decided on a fictitious marriage with the Englishman Nigel, who was seriously obsessed with the African beauty, and this brought her many problems and emotional experiences. All this time, Varis did not miss the opportunity to work on the catwalk and in photo studios with famous designers and photographers.

In 1991, Varis went to work in the USA for a long time, where he collaborated with Levi Strauss and starred in a series of commercials for jewelry, dressed only in a spacious African white burnous.

The Somali girl was also filmed for a magazine advertisement, and subsequently she advertised their new perfume “Aji”. Waris later became the first black model in history to advertise for Oil of Oil. She has appeared in music videos with Robert Palmer and Meat Loaf. The demand for her grew, and soon Varis began to successfully appear on the pages of famous fashion magazines: Elle, Allure, Glamor, Italian and French editions of Vogue.

But her favorite pastime remained working on the podium. After all, it was there that the nomad from Somalia felt like a star. Despite his passion for the world of fashion, Varis soberly assesses all its sides, both good and bad. She boldly talks about the disadvantages of work and emphasizes the advantages of her profession. After all, a modeling career allowed Waris to do what an ordinary Somali woman, crushed by poverty, could not do.

In 1995, while relaxing after another shoot, a BBC representative contacted Waris with a proposal to make a documentary about her. After long negotiations, Waris finally agreed, inspired by the fact that they would help her get to her homeland - Somalia, where civil wars were not stopping at that time. And, of course, a prerequisite was to arrange a meeting for Varis with her mother.

After so many years, she finally found herself in her homeland. On our own land, under such a native sky. She breathed in the tart air of the desert, and her joy knew no bounds. But the real gift was that she finally saw her mother after so many years of wandering and waiting. An older and emaciated woman, but just as beautiful and strong-willed, the woman whom Varis had admired all her life.

Waris flew away from Somalia with tears in her eyes, holding in her heart the promise she made to her mother - to come back for her. The film was completed and was called “Nomad in New York,” where Varis returned after filming.

One evening, while walking with a friend, Varis wandered into a bar where jazz music was playing. It was there that she met her love - a drummer named Dane.

Despite the fact that Waris underwent an operation in London to restore her genital organs, the issue of love and marriage still remained very painful for her, because mental healing takes much more time and effort than physical healing. But despite the many difficulties and problems associated with her fictitious husband, as well as with her health, she still gave birth to a wonderful baby for her beloved man. They named him Aliki, which means “mighty lion” in Somali.

According to the laws of her people, Varis, having become a mother, received special respect: she gave the world another human being, and shared the gift of life. Having gone through all the circles of initiation into a woman, which began too early, when she was circumcised at the age of five, she completed this process by giving birth to a child at less than thirty years of age.

In 1997, Waris's life changed dramatically: Marie Claire magazine published a story about the model with a story about the cruel tradition of female genital cutting (Female Genital Mutilation - FMG).

After publication, Barbara Walters filmed a story featuring Varis, which was called “Journey for Healing.” The video was shown on the Twenty by Twenty program.

At the same time, Varis published her autobiography, “Desert Flower,” which became a real bomb.

In 2009, a film based on the book starring Liya Kebede as Waris was presented in Venice.

Waris was then invited by the United Nations Population Fund to take part in its campaign to end female circumcision. The Somali woman was simply horrified to see the deplorable statistics of women subjected to this atrocity.

She, together with Dr. Nafis Sadiq, executive director of the UN Population Fund, begins to actively address this problem and practically leaves the modeling business.

After leaving the podium, Waris became a special UN ambassador, founded her own foundation, often visits Africa, and constantly attracts the attention of the press, public, and politicians to the FMG problem.

Since then, Varis has achieved considerable success in this field. Thanks to her work, FMG is banned in many countries around the world. She has helped and is helping hundreds of women undergo rehabilitation after this process.

She wrote three more books about the fate of the African people. Actively participates in social activities. Helps make documentaries about his country.

As a human rights activist, Waris has been awarded a large number of honorary titles, for example, in 2007 she became a Knight of the Legion of Honor.

This amazing woman remains exactly that: she raises her son, attends fashion shows, sometimes participates in photo shoots, she is a muse.

Varis Dirie says that he does not seriously intend to continue his modeling career, but sometimes participates in filming, and spends the payment on charity. Here, for example, is a recent session with Liya Kebede.

Having gone through his long journey, Varis remains a cheerful person, a beloved woman and a loving mother. She appreciates every day she lives and treats even the small joys of life with respect.

Interview with Waris Dirie:

Magazine: You talked a lot with women in different parts of the world - in your opinion, what are the strengths and weaknesses of a woman?

Waris Dirie: Women are the core of our society, but women's rights are violated.

Magazine: What does it take for a woman to feel her feminine power?

Waris Dirie: Confidence is all you need.

Magazine: Question about the day that changed your life when you decided to do that very first interview. Why then? Can you remember? What feelings led you into battle?

Waris Dirie: I followed my intuition, I planned to give an interview someday, and besides, I was tired of the fact that in all previous interviews I was only called a “supermodel.”

Journal: Please remember what helped you recover in the most difficult situations. Please tell us about this experience.

Waris Dirie: My therapy, which helps to recover during difficult times, is running and swimming. After them my head is clear, I feel wonderful, recharged.

Magazine: What qualities of yours help you live, move, win?

Waris Dirie: I never give up.

Magazine: Tell us about your relationship with your mother. What do you think about her attitude towards you?

Waris Dirie: I love my mother very much, and I believe that she loves me too.

Magazine: From what sources, in your opinion, does love in a person come from? Where is she from?

Waris Dirie: This is called “empathy”. Taking care of the people I need and who care about me. There is no love without respect.

Magazine: What character traits would you consider to be excellent feminine qualities?

Waris Dirie: Caring for others.

Magazine: What qualities do you dream of seeing in your son?

Varis Dirie: Respect for people and nature.

Magazine: Tell us about your foundation. Where does help come from?

Waris Dirie: My foundation is against female circumcision. 150 million women are subject to this cruel crime. We have the support of people all over the world to help us eliminate this cruel procedure used on little girls.

The fight against circumcision

The moment for the interview was indeed right. In the same year, Waris was invited to become a UN ambassador in the fight against female circumcision, and she ended her modeling career. Over time, Waris realizes that the UN people talk much more than they do. In 2002, she opened her foundation “Desert Flower” (this is how the name Waris is translated), which raises awareness about the dangers of FGM - female genital mutilation.

Seven years later, she organizes the Foundation for the Defense of Women's Rights and Dignity, and also launches the Sunset in the Desert project to raise funds for schools and clinics in Somalia. For many years, Waris has been working to empower women in African circumcision communities. To achieve this, it is necessary to provide women with education and the opportunity to work, Dirie emphasizes:

I am convinced that a confident, independent woman with her own income would not cripple her daughters just so they could marry for money.

Varis will tell about his amazing fate and difficult relationship with his mother in three autobiographical books. All of them will be accepted with success, and one of them - “Desert Flower” - will be released in 2009 as a film of the same name. She calls her four children the greatest loves in her life, two of whom are adopted. Varis does not hesitate to call the fight against FGM his mission and dreams of eradicating this barbaric ritual forever. Only for this the efforts of one person are not enough:

I would like this new century to be much more respectful of women. And I wish we could stop saying “oh yeah, I hope so” and do something instead! If not, what will our children say tomorrow? “I hope my mom thought about changing the world”? This is our responsibility.

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