The Waris Dirie story
International super model and spokes person for the U.N, this Somalian born woman was circumcised at a very young age and describes in great detail the horrific scene-
"Mama positioned me on the rock. The gypsy woman reached inside with her long fingers and fished out a broken razor blade. I saw dried blood on the jagged edge. She spit on it and wiped it on her dress. The next thing I felt was my flesh being cut away. I heard the blade sawing back and forth through my skin. The feeling was indescribable. I didn't move, telling myself the more I did, the longer the torture would take. Unfortunately, my legs began to quiver and shake uncontrollably of their own accord, and I prayed, Please, God, let it be over quickly. Soon it was, because I passed out.
When I woke up, my blindfold was off and I saw the gypsy woman had piled a stack of thorns from an acacia tree next to her. She used these to puncture holes in my skin, then poked a strong white thread through the holes to sew me up. My legs were completely numb, but the pain between them was so intense that I wished I would die.
My memory ends at that instant, until I opened my eyes and the woman was gone. My legs had been tied together with strips of cloth binding me from my ankles to my hips so I couldn't move. I turned my head toward the rock; it was drenched with blood as if an animal had been slaughtered there. Pieces of my flesh lay on top, drying in the sun."
After her circumcision
• Her dad arranged a marriage- she ran away to Mogadishu where her sister lived.
• She moved to London with her aunt who was married to the ambasador of Samali, worked in their house but never returned after the visa expired.
• She was asked to be photographed and soon appeared in Revlon commercials with Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer and Lauren Hutton.
• Her career was at its best although she carried the pain of her past.
• The tiny hole left, only permitted urine to escape one drop at a time.
• She never told doctors she had been circumcised but it got to a point where she had no choice.
• She was operated on much to the disgust of her family in Somalia.
• She became a UN actovate for the abolishment of FGM
3 comments:
I read this book a few years ago, and I'm really glad we've done so much research on FGM because now it makes the book so much more effective for me. I also read the second book Waris Dirie published. It was a great read too. I suggest anyone who hasn't read this book read it, its such an amazing story. People like this are unbelievable!
i agree, she's such an amazing woman and such a great example of a strong woman and a wonderful ambasador for the abolishment of FGM. It's so hard to read the part about her circumcision. Whats the second book called? How is it different to the first one?
The second book is about how Dirie became a UN Special Ambassador against FGM and returned to her family in Somalia. And I just found out that there's a third book she's written called Desert Children. It talks about how Dirie and journalist Corinna Milborn investigated the practice of FGM in Europe. Think I might look into getting that.
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