Originally printed in SCENE magazine.

Two women have changed the face of world fashion for their generation. In the 70's, Somalian beauty Iman Abdulmajid caused a sensation of epic proportions by breaking through social barriers to become one of the highest paid and most acclaimed models anywhere. In the 90's Alek Wek, a Sudanese refugee discovered at a street fair in London, redefined ideas of race and beauty for a new generation. But the two women have more in common than simply coming from Africa. Both broke industry conventions by turning the world's attention back to their troubled native lands through direct attention. In 1992, fed up with the West's tunnel-vision coverage of conditions in war-ravaged Somalia, Iman led a BBC crew into her country to film a poignant documentary that showed the bigger picture behind the simplistic headlines. Alek has already used her influence to benefit good causes from breast cancer and AIDS awareness to refugees' and children's charities. Now, to highlight the largely unreported famine in southern Sudan caused by 15-year old civil war, she has launched the ambitious Doctors Without Borders aid programme.

Iman: You know we have alot in common. I went to elementary school in Sudan. At that time my father was the press attache at the Somali embassy. I remember Khartoum distinctly because it was there that I learned to speak English. I had a very close friend there, who was a carbon copy of you. She was my partner in crime! Where were you born?

Alek: I was born in Wau in southern Sudan. I lived there until I was 12. Because of the civil war, we went to live in a neighbouring village in 1987, but we eventually moved back to the city. I stayed there for two years, until my father passed away. After that, my [older] sister and mother started paperwork for me and my youngest sister to go to England to live in 1991. My older sister was already living there.

Iman: So from then on, your sister sent you to school and took care of you kids?

Alek: Yes. I had never been away from home before. I really thought that I would see my mum a month or so after we arrived. But I didn't get to see her until two years later, because she was rejected by the Home Office three times.

Iman: How could they take the kids and reject the mother?

Alek: It was very complicated. Things became very difficult after my father died. He and my mum had always been there for all of us. When he passed away, my mum said to us,"I have to do what your father would have done for you. I want to take you somewhere where you can be safe, wake up every morning and go to school." My mother wanted to send us to my sister in England because at times there was no one to look after us in Sudan. My sister said she would do anything she could to help us.

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