Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
When the militias came to Wau, they would blast out 'Thriller' as they moved down the dirt streets.
I was working part-time as a cleaner while I was going to college and then babysitting after school.
In restaurants in my Brooklyn neighborhood, I always ask for a doggie bag to bring the leftovers home.
I am so impressed by UNHCR staff who live and work side by side with the refugees. It's really remarkable.
If we don't take care of each other, who will? ... I don't want to ever say, 'I should've done something.'
I meet and talk to women from every corner of this planet, and I can find beauty in each and every one of them.
I have no problem with whatever the next big look is. Just don't try and tell me that only one look is beautiful.
When I started modeling, it was like, 'Oh, she's too dark,' and I kind of looked at them like, 'You're too daft.'
To have this opportunity, in light of my familys struggles, made me want to create something lasting and relevant.
I grew up in a small town in Sudan. There weren't many cars, so we did things in the countryside near where we lived.
When I think of 'Instagram models,' I say you have to take baby steps. You cannot just walk straight onto the runway.
At times, we take freedom for granted. We really don't know how to cherish the freedom we have until it's taken from us.
The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself, too.
Not everyone is selfish in fashion. There are people who go to bed feeling good about themselves and then spread the love.
I had serious psoriasis as a child - it's strange that I make my living off my looks after years of looking like a monster.
It was the most exciting thing to leave secondary school and go to college, to have that freedom to study whatever I wanted.
I learnt just how little it takes to survive, which is why I don’t waste things – food, money, friendships or opportunities.
I used to have nightmares about the civil war when I got to England at ages 14 to 15. It took me some years to get over that.
Everything has to do with education: If you educate the girls, you educate the family, the community, and society, in general.
When I was 14, I came to school in London. I remember it was very cold, but also having to adjust and become fluent in English.
I have short hair. It doesn't make me more unattractive than a woman or my sisters that have more longer hair and a bit lighter.
For me, it always goes back to what my mother taught me and my sisters. That all women are beautiful, and we should embrace each other.
I don't understand when people are being greedy or mean, when they say who should get what, when they get control of someone else's life.
The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don't celebrate those, they can pass you by.
We survived on natural resources, so we should take care of the earth. When I leave home, I do things like switching off the heat and lights.
My mother always has embedded in us that you guys rock in different ways, and to be able to celebrate that with each other is just beautiful.
I could never understand why other kids wanted to truant - my education here gave me everything. It's the place where I really got to flourish.
Leaving southern Sudan as a child was terrifying. It was 1985, and my family and I were trying to escape to Khartoum, the capital in the North, to safety.
I had jobs from the age of 14, when I arrived in London as a refugee. Aged 17, I'd get up at 4 A.M. to work as a cleaner before school. It wasn't pleasant.
For me, there has never been one definition of beauty. I think we all have something to offer and when beauty shines from within, there can be no denying it
All the exhausting aspects of my job are made worthwhile because I get to experience so many different cultures. It makes you really appreciate the memories.
From nine years old, I lived with fear. I saw our neighbours disappearing. I was scared that I would come home from school and my parents would not be there.
You could fancy what you'd like, but as a woman, my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I am very grateful that my mother brought me up that way.
Starting modeling in the '90s, it was quite surreal. They were like, 'You're so different! So weird! So bizarre!' And I'm like, 'I'm so normal. What are you talking about?'
I've seen mothers and children really being vulnerable in the refugee camps; it's supposed to be temporary, but they end up having children who have grown up in refugee camps.
Going on safari in South Africa was hardcore but a lot of fun - though my friend Maura was absolutely freaking out about all the bugs in her hair and having to pee in the sand.
We need to do everything we can to protect the health and welfare of children around the world, but fortunately, it's getting easier to provide things like medication and care.
I feel, in 2015, when we see human beings and children dying to cross the ocean, trying to find safety, something more must be done to help them because refugees are just like me and you.
Going back to South Sudan after the independence took place was deeply emotional for me because I had gone through the civil war with my family just before going to seek refuge in London.
London is like my second home. I've still got friends there from school and from when I first started in the modelling business - people such as Karen Elson, Jasmine Guinness, Jade Parfitt.
It's sometimes tiring to get off a long-haul flight and go straight to the studio for a shoot, but if you really plan everything well, you can get so much out of combining travel with work.
My life was filled with family in South Sudan. I am the seventh of nine children, and we grew up in what would be considered a middle-class family. We did not have a lot, but we did have more than a lot of other people.
When my friends talk about childhood, I've never heard of any cartoons or TV they remember. The only thing we share is Michael Jackson. That's how far his music travelled - to a remote village on the other side of the world.
Beauty is deeper than just what you look at in a picture. You could fancy what you like, but as a woman my mother always raised us to believe in ourselves. I'm very grateful for the fact that my mother brought me up that way.
When I first started modeling, I realised I was very different from many of my colleagues, but I welcomed the opportunities my career in fashion offered me and the support from many inspiring individuals in the fashion industry.
I think beauty is not just about what we put on our heads or on our faces or what we wear: it's deeper than that, and if we can celebrate that, celebrate the women, not just the superficiality... I think it would be really gorgeous.
When I first started working with World Vision, I would sit down and talk with them about issues that concern any part of the world. MSF told me about what was going on in North Korea. I also support AIDS and breast cancer charities.
I don't even know where to start in terms of people having such an issue about color, especially being dark. I just think on different levels it's ignorance; it's no belief, no confidence, it's insecurity, so you want to inflict it on somebody else.
You can feel very strongly that someone doesn't like you. I think any model who didn't have the same sort of upbringing as me would find that very difficult. But I absolutely knew I was entitled. I never thought I was ugly - it never crossed my mind.
Having arrived in London to seek refuge during the civil war in Sudan, where I was born, the thing I'm most proud of is having totally evolved. I came here not knowing how to speak English, but I went to school and learned; I adapted to this new culture.