Somalian Model Who Campaigned Against Female Circumcision Receives Award

She has fronted campaigns for Chanel and Revlon and
even starred in a James Bond movie. But Waris Dirie
really caught the world's attention in 1997 when she
opened up about her horrific female Core mutilation
(FGM) ordeal. She has since campaigned tirelessly against
the practice and now her efforts have been recognised in
the form of a Woman of the Year Campaigning award.


Waris, now 48 and living in Poland with her four
children, was just five years old when she was subjected
to FGM in her home country of Somalia.
She was then forced into marrying a 60-year-old man
when she was just thirteen, a threat which left her no
choice but to flee to Mogadish, where she had family. She
later moved to London to live with relatives and worked
in a local McDonald's before getting her big break when
she was scouted by a fashion photographer in the 1990s.

Her career as a supermodel went from strength to
strength and she starred in Chanel campaigns and even
made a cameo appearance in James Bond movie, The
Living Daylights. But her life was fickle. 'I thought, "This is
b*****t, fake. I couldn't sleep one more night knowing the
truth about what was happening to girls,' she told The
Guardian. And that's when she decided to speak up.

The practice – which many believe leaves a girl 'clean' in
preparation for her marriage - usually happens before
girls reach the age of fifteen but can be performed on
babies at birth too. It causes intense pain, risk of infection
and can even lead to fatal childbirth later in life.
Source:daily mail