Waris Dirie

In March 2019 came the much acclaimed campaign "End FGM" with the British lingerie label Coco de Mer. Dirie posed for the company's icons collection (as successor to Pamela Anderson) and was staged by British star photographer Rankin] Rankin also produced the campaign's short film. The initiative was awarded the if Social Impact Prize 2019 by the iF International Forum Design headquartered in Hanover (GER) and was supported with a prize money.

The construction of the first three "Desert Flower schools" in Sierra Leone was announced in early 2019. Diries Desert Flower Foundation is also building a "Safe House", where FGM victims find refuge and protection. There is also a library and a computer centre. In addition, 10,000 copies of Waris Dirie's reading book "My Africa - The Journey" with Desert Flower educational boxes will be distributed to 34 schools in Sierra Leone.

On March 7, 2019, in the presence of Waris Dirie, it was announced at a press conference at the theater St. Gallen, Switzerland that her extraordinary life story would become a musical. Written and directed by the German theater and film director Gil Mehmert (converted Sönke Wortmann's film "Das Wunder von Bern" into a musical, 2014). The lyrics are by Frank Ramond. The music is contributed by producer and composer Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen (wrote the music for "de:99 Luftballons" by Nena). On February 22, 2020 the musical was premiered at the theater St. Gallen in the presence of Waris Dirie. After bestseller book (1998) and film (2009), her life story is also present on the theatre stage.

In 2017 the Centre Fleur du Desert opened with the Fondation Fleur du Desert in the women's shelter at the Hôpital Delafontaine in Paris Saint-Denis. The Centre Fleur du Desert was visited by French President Emmanuel Macron in December 2017.

Education projects in Sierra Leone (West Africa): In 2016 Dirie and the team of the Desert Flower Foundation decided to make the topic "Education in Africa" the focus of their work. Through the sponsorship project "Save A Little Desert Flower" 1,000 girls could be saved from FGM in Sierra Leone alone.

The Desert Flower Center Scandinavia was established in 2015 in cooperation with the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm.

After the rescue of Desert Flower Safa from FGM in 2014, the sponsorship programme "Save A Little Desert Flower" was launched with the agency YELL (Hamburg).

In 2014, the Desert Flower Surgical Training Center for surgeons, gynaecologists, urologists and nursing staff was established in Amsterdam together with the Desert Flower Foundation BENELUX.

Desert Flower Center: On September 11, 2013, Dirie as patron opened the world's first holistic medical center for the treatment and care of FGM victims in Berlin together with the Waldfriede Hospital as a cooperation hospital of the Desert Flower Foundation. The Desert Flower Center was awarded the Louise Schroeder Medal by the State of Berlin in 2016.

"Together for African Women" followed in 2011, a collaboration with the Hamburg agency Jung von Matt and the laundry label Mey.

In 2010, Dirie was appointed Ambassador of Peace and Security in Africa by the African Union.

Dirie has campaigned extensively to draw attention to the brutal ritual of female genital mutilation. In 2010 with "Stop FGM Now" in collaboration with the Berlin agency Heymann Brandt de Gelmini. This initiative was awarded the prize for "Best NGO Social Media Campaign" by the German Federal Government.

In 2009, Desert Flower, a feature-length film based on Waris' book Desert Flower was released, with the Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede playing her. Directed by Sherry Hormann, the film was produced by Oscar winner Peter Herrmann. Benjamin Herrmann and Waris Dirie were co-producers. The movie has so far been released in 20 countries including France, Spain, Israel, Greece, Poland and Brazil. In January 2010, it won the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich in the "Best Movie" category. It was also nominated for a Film Award in Gold in the "Outstanding Feature Film" category at the German Film Awards, and won the Audience Award in the "Best European Film" category at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

In January 2009 Dirie became a founding member of the PPR Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights, an organization of French tycoon François-Henri Pinault (CEO of PPR) and his wife, Hollywood actress Salma Hayek. She has also started the Desert Dawn Foundation, which raises money for schools and clinics in her native Somalia, and supports the Zeitz Foundation, an organization focused on sustainable development and conservation.

Since 2009 Dirie lives in Gdansk, Poland. Temporarily also in Vienna. She is mother of two sons (Aleeke, Leon). Aleeke, the older of the two, comes from a relationship with jazz musician Dana Murray.

In another incident, during the early hours of 5 March 2008, Dirie went missing for three days while staying in Brussels, Belgium. She was found alive on 7 March 2008, by a Brussels policeman.

In 2007, the Arab channel Al Jazeera invited Waris Dirie to the popular talk show by Riz Khan. She spoke for the first time on an Arab channel in front of over 100 million viewers about the taboo topic "Female Genital Mutilation".

In 2006, she addressed the assembled ministers of all EU Member States in Brussels, Belgium. The European Union then put the fight against female genital mutilation on its agenda, after which laws were tightened up and preventive measures initiated in many European countries.

Since March 2005, Dirie has held Austrian citizenship.

In 2004, she received the World Social Award by Mikhail Gorbachev at the Women's World Award Gala in Hamburg, Germany. Dirie opened the World Conference against FGM in Nairobi, delivered a much-noticed speech and published for the first time the Waris-Dirie Manifesto against FGM. The Austrian Federal President Heinz Fischer awarded her the Romero Prize on behalf of the Austrian Catholic Men's Movement.

In March 2004, Dirie was attacked in her home in Vienna, Austria. Paulo A., 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, and was later given a five-month suspended sentence by an Austrian court. 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.

In 2002, Dirie founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria. The foundation collects money to raise awareness about the worldwide problem of FGM and to help those affected. In the same year, she received the Corine Literature Prize.

2002–present: In 2002 Dirie founded the Desert Flower Foundation in Vienna, Austria, an organization whose goal is to eradicate the ritual of female genital mutilation once and for all worldwide. The Foundation's work is financed by donations.

20 years after her escape, Dirie decides to visit her family in Somalia. A dangerous adventure, as Somalia has been plagued by civil war and famine for years. Her second book, which will also become an international bestseller (first place on the Spiegel bestseller list from 8 to 28 April and from 13 May to 23 June 2002), describes the trip to her home country.

The book that describes Dirie's genital circumcision, her adventurous escape through the Somali desert and the rise to a world-famous supermodel, becomes an international bestseller and appears in over 50 licensed editions. Over 11 million copies have been sold worldwide to date, 3 million in Germany alone (number 1 on the Spiegel bestseller list from 11 to 17 January and from 25 January to 18 July 1999).

In 1998, Dirie coauthored her first book along with nonfiction author Cathleen Miller: Desert Flower, an autobiography that went on to become an international bestseller. Over 11 million copies have been sold worldwide to date, 3 million in Germany alone. 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.

In 1997, at the height of her modeling career, Dirie spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the women's magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation (FGM) that she had undergone as a child, at the age of five along with her two sisters. That same year, Dirie became a UN envoy for the abolition of FGM. She later paid her mother a visit in her native Somalia.

At the age of 18, Dirie's life changed abruptly. By chance, she was discovered by photographer Terence Donovan, who photographed her in 1987 together with the then still unknown model Naomi Campbell for the title of the Pirelli Calendar. From there, Dirie's modeling career took off, she became a world-famous top model overnight, appearing in advertisements for top brands such as Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon.

In 1987, Dirie 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.

Waris Dirie (Somali: Waris Diiriye) (born 1965) is a Somali model, author, actress and human rights activist in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). From 1997 to 2003, she served as a UN special ambassador against female genital cutting. In 2002 she founded her own organization in Vienna (Austria), the Desert Flower Foundation.

Dirie was born as one of twelve children into a nomadic family in 1965 in the area of Galkayo, Somalia. Her first name Waris means desert flower. When she was five, she herself suffered circumcision in the form of Infibulation. At the age of thirteen, she fled through the desert to Mogadishu in order to escape an arranged marriage to a 60-year-old man. She first stayed there with relatives, but later she was told that she could not stay any longer because her escape was not tolerated.