Today in International Women's day.  While in most of the world women are treated equal, Waris Dirie, now a model and writer from Somalia reminds us how this is not the case everywhere...

Waris Dirie's story is exceptional -- from a nomadic life in Somalia to a career as a supermodel -- but her message is universal. "Desert Flower", the movie based on her autobiography, is a powerful protest against female genital mutilation, a practice widespread in Africa and other parts of the world. Ahead of International Women's Day, Dirie and actress-model Liya Kebede gave an interview.

"This story is real, yes, but you can't capture what happened. The real thing. So to make believe....it wasn't bad. I like the movie, it had exactly the dynamic, the image, that I wanted. It had everything I wanted in there. "  stated Waris Dirie

"We started our shooting in Africa. First we shot on location in Djibouti, in a nomadic area. And there were lots of women there, either serving as extras, or helping out with things. And almost all the women who were there had been excised. And they knew that this was a film that was supposedly against female genital mutilation, and they had absolutely no problem with that. They understood that we had our view of the world, another view of reality, and that they have their view of reality. And when you're over there, you really understand how their reality is different from ours." Dire explained

"When you're born into that environment, the only avenue you have is to get married. And to get married, someone made up this myth a long time ago that you have to go through female genital mutilation. If we allow girls to go to school, and to remain in school -- since most of the time they're taken out when they're 10 or 11 to get married -- but if they could stay until the end, and have the same chance that we have -- to be independent, to work and make money -- then there would no longer be this tradition. It would no longer be necessary."

Waris Dirie concluded by saying, "I've been lucky enough to have this platform which enables me to do things which I maybe wouldn't have been able to do if I hadn't had this platform. And so I sort of see what I'm doing as a responsibility that I have."