Alek Wek

My father made sure of discipline, but my mum, she was serious business. ”

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. ”

Don't focus on negative things; focus on the positive, and you will flourish. ”

I like to accept it all, the negative and the positive. ”

I am so impressed by UNHCR staff who live and work side by side with the refugees. It's really remarkable. ”

True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others. ”

Everything has to do with education: If you educate the girls, you educate the family, the community, and society, in general. ”

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. ”

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. ”

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. ”