Desert Flower

Waris Dirie was born in Somalia, one of twelve children, and from early childhood she knew hard work in the desert alongside camels and goats, yet despite the cruel traditions imposed on women, she loved her life. At the age of five, she became the victim of the horrific ritual of female circumcision, and when she turned twelve, her father tried to marry her off to a sixty-year-old stranger in exchange for five camels. Unwilling to accept such a fate, the girl ran away from home, and her journey stretched across both time and distance, proving as uneven and dangerous as the land on which she had grown up. When she arrived in London, Waris knew neither the language nor the local culture, had no documents, and worked as a cleaner in a restaurant until a fateful meeting with a renowned photographer changed her life forever.