As pastoral nomads, Dirie and her family live in the harsh and unforgiving desert, constantly moving and cut off from the cosmopolitan influences of large and small cities alike. Her parents are both Somali, but they do not live according to the contemporary customs that most do in their country. Dirie's story begins in 1965 when she is born in the East African country of Somalia, in a city called Calkayo. The book recounts Dirie’s harrowing life story, from her roots as a member of a nomadic family and the unspeakable abuses she suffered as a child, to her extraordinary rise to international fame, first as a fashion model, then as an ambassador and advocate for women's rights, and later as an author. DESERT DAWN is the story about coming home.Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad is a memoir published in 1998 by the Somali model, author, and activist Waris Dirie. She traces the roots of her courage, resilience and humour back to her motherland, and most particularly to her mother. The world of famine and violence, where women have no voice and no place - the very world that nearly destroyed her also gave her the tools to survive. She told her story - enduring, at five years old, the ancient and savage custom of female circumcision running away at twelve on foot through the desert in order to escape an arranged marriage being discovered by Terence Donovan as she worked as a cleaner in London and becoming a top fashion model - in her book, the worldwide bestseller, Desert Flower.Īlthough Waris Dirie fled her homeland, she never forgot the country and culture that moulded her. At first it seemed impossible - almost as impossible as a camel girl becoming a fashion model.'įashion model, UN ambassador and courageous spirit, Waris Dirie is a remarkable woman, born into a traditional family of tribal desert nomads in Somalia. I had no idea where my family was in Somalia. I wanted to return to the place where I was born and see it with new eyes.
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