Desert Flower - To be a woman!

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"Desert Flower (secondary title: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad) is a book published in 1998, about the life of Waris Dirie, a crusader for social reform in Somalia, particularly as it applies to ritual female genital mutilation. This is one of the biggest problems for the female population in Somalia today.
This book embraces nomadic culture, and brings to life an amazing story about a young desert girl who raises up to be a highly esteemed fashion model."

Waris Dirie was born in 1965 into a nomad family living in the region of Gallcaio, in the Somali desert near the border to Ethiopia. At the tender age of five, she underwent the inhuman procedure of genital mutilation. This horrible tradition is still practiced worldwide today, both by Moslems and Christians. According to estimations of the United Nations, more than 8 000 girls become victims of this cruel crime every day.
At the age of 13 Waris fled from a forced marriage to a man, who could have been her grandfather in age. After an adventurous escape she arrived in London and worked there as a housemaid and at McDonald’s.

SUPERMODEL AND BONDGIRL
She was discovered by the British top photographer Terence Donovan as a model at the age of 18 and became an international celebrity.
She was given a part as a James Bond girl in the movie ‘The Living Daylight’, side by side with Timothy Dalton.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, appointed her as UN Special Ambassador for the elimination of Female Genital Mutilation. She travelled the world for the UN, participated in conferences, met with presidents, Nobel Prize winners and movie stars and collects enormous funds for the UN.

DESERT FLOWER – BLOCKBUSTER
1997 Waris Dirie’s biography ‘Desert Flower’ was published in New York. The book became an international bestseller (in Germany, for example, the book stayed in the Top Ten list of best-selling books published in the magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ for a total of 120 weeks). The book appeared in more than 50 licensed editions and became number 1 of the best-seller lists in many countries. Till today, there were 11 million copies sold worldwide.

DESERT FLOWER FOUNDATION
In 2002 she founded her own foundation, named Waris Dirie Foundation, based in Vienna/Austria, to support her work as a campaigner against FGM. In 2010, the Foundation was re-named “Desert Flower Foundation” to reflect the broader approach to addressing female genital mutilation though economic projects in Africa.

AWARDS AND HONOURS
In 2007 the French President Nicolas Sarkozy appointed her as a ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’, the ‘World Demographic Association’ nominated her as the first woman for the ‘Prix de la GÈnÈration’ and the ‘Martin Buber Foundation’ nominated her as the first woman for the ‘Martin Buber Gold Medal’.

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, followed by Berlin and New York (the budget: USD 16 Mio). Producer is Oscar-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.