Desert Flower (film)

Hers was a voice destined to be heard. In other eras, thin
tall women may not have been considered attractive. She
happened to get that look perhaps to appeal to our age. She
was able to survive walking through the desert, she was
destined to survive and be helped by many people. By
watching the film "Desert Flower," you feel like a witness
to those invisible helpers who assist others in following their
calling. The theme is painful to talk about--3000 years of
the pain of women, 3000 years of tradition. But something
--call it spirit--enabled her to survive her ordeals. That spirit
brought her to the stage where she has a voice in the world,
a voice for herself and others like her in Africa and
elsewhere who have suffered FGM, or Female Genital
Mutilation.

"Desert Flower" is the story about the Somali-born supermodel,
author, actress, human rights activist and special UN-envoy
Waris Dirie. (A 2002 Time Magazine provides back-story
 here.) This superb 2009 film, which I viewed with my wife today
and highly recommend, is based on an autobiographical novel
by Waris Dirie, with Cathleen Miller. A trailer for the film
can be viewed here at National Geographic's website.
Her Desert Flower Foundation website can be found here.

Had Waris Dirie been a doctor or lawyer or soldier, she
might not have found her mission. She has subsequently
left modeling and devoted herself full-time to human
rights activism.

Waris ("desert flower" in Somali) Dirie