She traces the roots of her courage, resilience and humour back to her motherland, and most particularly to her mother.

The world of famine and violence, where women have no voice and no place - the very world that nearly destroyed her also gave her the tools to survive. Although Waris Dirie fled her homeland, she never forgot the country and culture that moulded her. She told her story - enduring, at five years old, the ancient and savage custom of female circumcision running away at twelve on foot through the desert in order to escape an arranged marriage being discovered by Terence Donovan as she worked as a cleaner in London and becoming a top fashion model - in her book, the worldwide bestseller, Desert Flower. At first it seemed impossible - almost as impossible as a camel girl becoming a fashion model.' Fashion model, UN ambassador and courageous spirit, Waris Dirie is a remarkable woman, born into a traditional family of tribal desert nomads in Somalia. I had no idea where my family was in Somalia. I wanted to return to the place where I was born and see it with new eyes.

Desert dawn book