Waris Dirie: My mother said ‘forgive me’ for my FGM

Decades after she escaped her home country of Somalia, model and activist Waris Dirie returned there in the 1990s to convince her mother to actively stop other relatives undergoing female genital mutilation (FGM).

“It was my first mission when I got there,” she told the BBC Hardtalk programme’s Stephen Sackur.

“I told her one day, 'Mama, if you don’t save my brother’s children, or anyone who you know, neighbours. If you don’t speak up against this, Mama, I’m going to come for you. I work with the police now in England'.”

Her mother did eventually change her mind on the practice.

“In the end she put her hands up and said 'forgive me, I didn’t know'.”

Ms Dirie underwent FGM as a child aged about five, and later she became a campaigner against the practice.

Watch the full interview on BBC World News on Wednesday 8 February or watch again on BBC iPlayer (UK only)