desert flower

In religion we watched a film called 'Desert Flower' about the famous model Waris Dirie. The film is based around the life of Waris and the struggles she faced throughout her life. She was living in Somalia with her family up until the age of about 8 or 9 mostly minding the camels and we see her just being treated very unfairly just because of her gender.Her mother sends her away to live with her aunt in another part of the country so she didn't have to face marraige to a much older man. Her marraige was arranged and at the age of three she got female genital mutilation performed on her which is a practise that happens to many women in Somalia and deprives women of basically being women. However Waris runs away to the streets of London and makes a friend there who eventually discovers what has happened to Waris back in Somalia, Waris thinks this practise happens to every woman and doesn't understand why the people in the UK are not like her. She then gets discovered by a famous photographer from a top class model agency and becomes a famous model. She uses her fame to campaign against the rights of women and to stop female mutilation all over the world. This film has thought me alot about the rights of women and how unfair and unequal the world is. It really opened by eyes to what happens to women and girls of my own age in other countries and made me feel lucky to be treated fairly and equally in Ireland today. Thanks Ms. L for that:)