Waris Dirie

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Waris Dirie واريس ديري
Born	1965 (1965) Somalia
Ethnicity	Somali
Occupation	model, author, actress, UN Special Ambassador (1997-2003), author
Title	Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur

Waris Dirie (Somali: Waris Diiriye, Arabic: واريس ديري‎) (born in 1965) is a model, author, actress and human rights activist.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Career 3 Attack and disappearance 4 Personal life 5 Humanitarian work, awards and honours 6 Books and films 7 Notes 8 External links

[edit] Early years

Waris Dirie was born into a nomadic clan in Gaalkacyo, Somalia in 1965.^[1] At the age of thirteen, she fled her family in order to escape an arranged marriage to a much older man. She landed in London, England, where she lived with and worked for wealthy relatives. Waris later worked at a local McDonald's, trying to make ends meet after a falling out with her hosts.^[2]

[edit] Career

By chance, Waris was discovered by photographer Terence Donovan, who helped secure for her the cover of the 1987 Pirelli calendar. From there, her modeling career took off, scoring advertisements for top designers such as Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon.

In 1987, Waris played a minor role in the James Bond movie The Living Daylights. She also appeared on the runways of London, Milan, Paris and New York City, and in fashion magazines such as Elle, Glamour and Vogue. This was followed in 1995 by a BBC documentary entitled A Nomad in New York about her modeling career.

In 1997, at the height of her modeling career, Waris spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the fashion magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation (FGM) that she had undergone as a child, an interview which received worldwide media coverage. That same year, Waris became a UN ambassador for the abolition of FGM, and later paid her mother a visit in her native Somalia.

In 1998, Waris authored her first book, Desert Flower, an autobiography which went on to become an international bestseller.^[2] She later released other successful books including Desert Dawn, Letter To My Mother, and Desert Children, the latter of which was launched in tandem with a European campaign against FGM.

[edit] Attack and disappearance

In March 2004, Waris was attacked in her home in Vienna, Austria. Paulo Augusto, a 26-year-old Portuguese man, was held in custody after having apparently stalked her some 1,000 miles across Europe, eventually gaining access to her apartment by climbing through a neighbour's window. "She was so frightened and in shock that she let him in," a police spokesman said. Dirie apparently suffered minor injuries when her assailant threw her to the floor. The attacker then left in a taxi, only to return later on foot to smash one of the building's ground-floor windows. He was arrested when neighbours called the police,^[3] and was later given a five month suspended sentence by an Austrian court.^[4] It was reported that the suspect had met Dirie six months earlier when his brother was working at her previous residence in Wales. He later broke into that home and stole items of her clothing.^[5]

In another incident, during the early hours of Wednesday, March 5, 2008, Waris went missing for three days while staying in Brussels, Belgium. She was found alive on Friday, March 7, 2008 by a Brussels policeman. A few days later, she told Austrian media that she had been kidnapped and held by a taxi-driver who also tried to rape her.^[4]

[edit] Personal life

Contrary to popular belief, Waris is not related to fellow Somali model Iman. In her book Desert Flower, Waris states that Iman's mother was good friends with her aunt, a relative with whom Waris once lived during her time in London.

In March 2005, Waris acquired Austrian citizenship.^[6]

[edit] Humanitarian work, awards and honours

In 1997, Waris abandoned her modeling career to focus on her work against female circumcision. That same year, she was appointed UN Special Ambassador for the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation.^[7][8] In 2002, she founded the Waris Dirie Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organization aimed at raising awareness regarding the dangers surrounding FGM. Waris followed that in January 2009 with the establishment of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights’, an organization she founded along with French tycoon François-Henri Pinault (CEO of PPR) and his wife, Hollywood actress Salma Hayek.^[9] Waris has also started the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia.^[2]

Waris has received many prizes and awards for her humanitarian work and books including:

• "Woman of the Year Award" by Glamour Magazine (2000)^[10]
• "Corine Award" of the umbrella association of the German bookselling trade (2002)^[11]
• "Women’s World Award" from former Russian President, Mikhail Gorbachev (2004)^[12]
• "Bishop Óscar Romero Award" by the Catholic Church (2005)
• "Chévalier de la Légion d’Honneur" (2007) from the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy^[13]
• ‘Prix des Générations’ by the ‘World Demographic Association’ (2007) ^[14]
• ‘Martin Buber Gold Medal’ from the ‘Martin Buber Foundation’ (2008) ^[15]

[edit] Books and films

• Desert Flower

Waris Dirie autobiographical novel Desert Flower, which tells the story of her own childhood and genital mutilation was written in collaboration with Cathleen Miller and published in 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers. The book has been printed in numerous languages and topped bestseller lists in Europe.^[2]

• Desert Dawn

The book describes how Dirie became a UN Special Ambassador against female genital mutilation (FGM) and returned to her family in Somalia. Written in collaboration with Jeanne D'Haem and published in 2003 by Virago Press, Limited, ISBN 9781844080083, it also became a bestseller.

• Desert Children

Desert Children reveals how Dirie and journalist Corinna Milborn investigated the practice of FGM in Europe. Waris reports on encounters with victims and offenders, on the difficult research, on setbacks and achievements. Written with Corinna Milborn, translation by Sheelagh Alabaster; published in 2007 by Time Warner UK, ISBN 9781844082513. A Europe-wide campaign against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) was initiated after the publication of this book.^[16]

• Letter To My Mother

Waris Dirie’s book, Letter To My Mother was published 2007 by the German Ullstein Verlag, Berlin. Waris says: "This is my most personal book. There are wounds that refuse to heal. My desire to meet my mother again, to forgive her, was intense. I had to realise though, that love and suffering are often irrevocably connected. Working on this book was a painful, though necessary experience!"^[17]

• Desert Flower - The Feature Film

In March 2008 filming for Desert Flower, which is based on her first book, started in Djibouti, shooting also took place in London, Berlin and New York City. Producer is Academy Award winner Peter Herrmann (Nowhere in Africa), associate producers, apart from Waris Dirie herself, come from France, the UK, Italy and Austria. Director is New York’s Sherry Hormann. The role of Waris Dirie is played by Ethiopian model Liya Kebede, the face of Estée Lauder, who has already taken part in two major productions: Robert De Niro’s The Good Shepherd and Andrew Niccol’s Lord of War. Among the cast are Golden Globe winner 2009, Sally Hawkins (Happy Go Lucky, Cassandra’s Dream), Timothy Spall (Harry Potter, Vanilla Sky), Meera Syal (Scoop, Anita and Me), Juliet Stevenson (Bend it like Beckham) and Craig Parkinson (Control (2007 film)). The movie is to be released in autumn 2009.^[18]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Waris Dirie Foundation
• Waris Dirie at Fashion Model Directory
• PPR-Foundation
• Reader's Digest version of Desert Flower