She did it and so she could stay in London and now she was also allowed to travel around the world and so she become one of the most famous models in the world. The only way to get a valid visa was to marry an man from England. The problem was that she overstayed her visa. She told her friend about it and they decide to call him. After some years she met the stranger who wants to make photos from her again an he gave her a visiting card with his telephone number. To support herself alone she begins to work at McDonalds while living in a youth hostel with her new girl friend who's also a from Africa. When that family returns to Somalia, Waris refused to leave, hiding her passport and ID. A stranger asked her, if he's allowed to make photos of her, but she was afraid of him because she had bad memories with strangers. After view years she managed to work as house help by relatives in London. When she arrived in the city she lived in the house of her sister and helped her with her kids, later she lived by her aunt because she had quarrel with her sister. ON her way she was nearly violated by a trucker, but she hit him and run away. She decided to run away, and so she had to cross the dessert, Waris wanted to come to Mogadischu because there life her relatives. She didn't want to marry him but her father will get 5 camels and that's a lot for a little girl. At the age of twelve her father arranged a marriage to a sixty-year-old stranger. It was very painful for her, but she wanted to do it because after the circumcision she become a women. When she went through the practice of female circumcision, it changed her life.

Waris lived in harmony with her family and nature until she was around five years old. She growed up in a nomad family and was a hardworking girl. The Book Desert Flower by Waris Dirie is about her life.

Desert dawn by waris dirie