Desert Flower Amanda Hocking from birth to the age

from birth to the age of 18

They fell wildly in love or went their separate ways

800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to southwest China

of shattering compassion and of reckless optimism in the face of insurmountable barriers—in short

Desert Flower Amanda Hocking from birth to the ageWaris Dirie (the name means desert flower) lives a double life by day she is a famous model and UN spokeswoman on women's rights in Africa, at night she dreams of her native Somalia. Waris, one of 12 children, was born into a traditional family of desert nomads in East Africa. She remembers her early childhood as carefree racing camels and moving on with her family to the next grazing spot until it came her turn to meet the old woman who administered