I know how it feels to go hungry.
— Alek Wek
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.
My mother has always instilled in us that we should carry ourselves with dignity despite the horror that came with the civil war. She also taught us that where you come from is very important because that's what makes you who you are. So for me, whatever I've gone through had profoundly shaped me; it has given me strength and unwavering faith.
There's never too much you can do.
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.
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.
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.
I meet and talk to women from every corner of this planet, and I can find beauty in each and every one of them.
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.
I have eight brothers and sisters, so I'd like to have a few children.
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 never thought I would see a free South Sudan.
Bones inside clothes. That was war to me.
My father made sure of discipline, but my mum, she was serious business.
If my mother hadn't encouraged me, I would be nervous and feeling like I'm doing something wrong.
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.
Education is the key to the future.
There are mothers who sew for six months to make a fashion collection - someone's grandmother, someone's sister. We come in and get paid to walk for 10 minutes at the end. Whenever I think about that, I realise it's not about me. I was just the one chosen to represent those women and sell the clothes.
It was the most exciting thing to leave secondary school and go to college, to have that freedom to study whatever I wanted.
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.
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 had serious psoriasis as a child - it's strange that I make my living off my looks after years of looking like a monster.
I believe we should utilise any power we have for important issues that are bigger and beyond us. Whether it's with refugees or working to educate kids. I don't think you need to have gone through a civil war to do something. I believe as human beings, we can look out for each other.
For me, you have to have some kind of modesty.
Beauty is subjective and should not be limited to only what we see on the outside.
Don't focus on negative things; focus on the positive, and you will flourish.
Beauty should not be culturally relevant; it should be universal.
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.
When I was 10 years old, I fled my homeland amid the bomb blasts of civil war in Sudan.
I still have dreams in which someone is coming to the door.
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.
My family is the most important thing to me.
I am so impressed by UNHCR staff who live and work side by side with the refugees. It's really remarkable.
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.
The day you stop enjoying something is the day you should quit, if you can afford to.
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.
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.
I use Johnson & Johnson! I use their baby oil gel.
When the militias came to Wau, they would blast out 'Thriller' as they moved down the dirt streets.
The fact that designers like Lagerfeld, Gaultier, Galliano and Dior could believe in Alek made me believe in myself, too.
Beauty does not mean one thing but not something else.
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.
I would love to continue to model but also have a family.
True beauty is born through our actions and aspirations and in the kindness we offer to others.
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.
My experience as a refugee had made me strong; I could survive anything, even the world of fashion.
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.
There are people who can look out for other human beings; there are people who can speak up when something is not right and say, 'This is wrong, and something should be done.'
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.
South Sudanese people are rich like the soil; they just need a little water, and they will grow.
