Such was the world into which Maathai was born in 1940 and subsequently raised. Maathai played an active part in the struggle for democracy in Kenya, and belonged to the opposition . She was brought up, taught, encouraged, and mentored by womenher mother, village women, and teachers (nuns in particular). In 2005 ten heads of state of countries bordering Congo Basin recognized her by giving her the title of goodwill ambassador for the Congo Basin rainforest ecosystema responsibility which she cherished.61 I remember once visiting her office to find her immersed in the study of French so as to discharge the responsibilities of the new position. Wangari's Trees of Peace is based on the true story of Wangari Maathai, an environmentalist in Kenya and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. During this period the GBM thrived, leading to the recognition of Maathai. Such strengths also helped to secure funding for the GBM and to ensure, in some measure, Maathais personal security. At that time, she was working as an assistant lecturer at the University College, Nairobi. The relevant conferences included: Environment and Development (Stockholm, Sweden, 1972), Hunger and World Food Problems (Rome, Italy, 1974), Population Growth and Development (Cairo, Egypt, 1974), Human Settlements (Vancouver, Canada, 1976), Science and Technology for Development (Vienna, Austria, 1979), and Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979). Maathais marriage produced three children, Waweru, Wanjira, and Muta, two boys and a girl. In 2004, Prof. Maathai became the first African woman to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace". With Maathais guidance, the program went from a series of local womens activities into a national and international phenomenon. To see her customs denigrated at this stage of her personal development was devastating.12 Despite that negative experience, Maathai remained proud of her culture and valued indigenous knowledge and related stories. Wangari Maathai is a young woman who saw deforestation turn the lush lands of Kenya into a barren desert. Early Life These experiences emboldened her to fight against ethnic discrimination and gender inequalities which she encountered in the same institution and in the country generally. In 1997 and 2002, Maathai ventured into electoral politics once more. In 1977, Maathai founded a grassroots organization, the Green Belt Movement, focused on reforestation to promote sustainability and establish financial income for women in the region. The document argued that by creating a class of privileged rural farmers, the radicalization of peasants would be minimized, thus denying support for Mau Mau and other radical political elements. It thus became a critical constituency for experimenting with new ideas. She was given a scholarship for PhD studies and research in Kenya and Germany. The impact of these policies was felt mostly in the 60s and 70s as landless poor were settled, necessitating the cutting of trees on small-scale farms and reducing forest cover in districts like Nakuru, Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia, Nyandarua, Laikipia, and Kirinyaga. Leaders of the Green Belt Movement established the Pan African Green Belt Network in 1986 in order to educate world leaders about conservation and environmental improvement. Maathai seems to have been aware of these tensions as she juggled the roles of mother, politicians wife, and university teacher, as well as affirming herself as an African womanin manner of dressing, hospitality at home, and speaking local languages to meet the expectations of her husbands constituents.28 Hence her marriage might have become a theater of contestations of different perceptions of womanhood in independent Kenya. Your current browser may not support copying via this button. 60. In her lifetime, Dr. Wangari Maathai authored four books and numerous scientific publications. Published March 28, 2023. The death of Wangari Muta Maathai on September 25, 2011, left a rich heritage that continues to inspire men and women, old and young, and indeed the entire world as it grapples with the challenges of sustainable development goals and climate change. When she was globally recognized with the award of the Nobel Peace Prize, she became an instant national icon.59 Duncan Ndegwa, an outstanding public servant from Nyeri County, brought out this ironic situation in his congratulatory letter to Maathai when he wrote: Lest you forget, and far away from any vestiges of dignity, we have seen you being shoved aside if not totally ignored by the government, labeled feminine chauvinist and treated like a common criminal all for being principled and living for a cause. Your recognition as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate has without doubt now confirmed your extraordinary identity in Tetu, Nyeri, Kenya, East Africa, Africa and the World.60. Then she assumed the position of full-time coordinator of the GBM.36. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Use these quotes in discussing Wangari Maathai's life and how her views and activities changed over the course of her lifetime. Forest cover was also decimated as large-scale farms were subdivided and select forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes. Wangari Maathai (1940-2011), the first woman to obtain a PhD in East and Central Africa, was a scholar, and an environmental and human rights activist. When she was growing up, her father, a truck driver, made sure she was brought into family discussions and valued her opinions. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari MaathaibyWritten by Nicola RijsdijkIllustrated by Maya MarshakIn a village on the slopes of Mount Kenya, a little girl work. Mathaai was named Wangari at birth after her fathers mother, as was Gikuyu tradition. Thanks to a government-run exchange program, Maathai went to college in the United States, earning a masters degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh. But years later ed. Maendeleo ya Wanawake was such a grassroots organization established during the colonial period and after independence had developed a countrywide network of grassroots affiliates.30. She observed: Working for justice and freedom is often a lonely and dispirited business. Her work was often considered both unwelcome and subversive in her own country, where her outspokenness constituted stepping far outside traditional gender roles. He offered Maathai the job of a research assistant on the basis of skills acquired during her studies and work exposure in the United States.23. To the school calendar. Daniel Branch, Kenya: Between Hope and Despair, 19632012 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), 249251; and Karuti Kanyinga and Duncan Okello, eds., Tensions and Reversals in Democratic Transitions: The Kenya 2007 General Elections (Nairobi, Kenya: Society for International Development and Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, 2010), 169. On her demise, she was accorded a state funeral by the Kenyan government. As the first African woman to . The Ndegwa Report of 1971 legitimized such practices.46 These practices tended to concentrate wealth and power among few elites, predominantly from one ethnic group. She was tasked with domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society. The first attempt in 1982 was blocked; in the 1997 attempt, she failed to secure a seat. Wangari Maathai, in full Wangari Muta Maathai, (born April 1, 1940, Nyeri, Kenyadied September 25, 2011, Nairobi), Kenyan politician and environmental activist who was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize for Peace, becoming the first Black African woman to win a Nobel Prize. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. An interview with Joshua S. Muiru, November 2019. AfDB, Eminent Speakers Program, Wangari Maathai Underscores Importance of Good Governance in Poverty Reduction Efforts, October 27, 2010. Higher Education While working for the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976, Maathai came up with . Thus, the NCWK provided an appropriate platform to develop and experiment with innovative ideas such as the GBM. Yet in my various struggles I have been fortunate to receive the encouragement and support of many individuals and institutions both in Kenya and overseas, who have stood by me in difficult times. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. Maathais elder brother Nderitu was the first in the family to attend school, thereby creating a positive image of schooling and serving as an inspiration to his sister. The influence of the nuns began in this school and continued all the way to university. The subsequent handling of the divorce proceedings by the judiciary and the press seem to point out the quandary of how marriages of educated women were then perceived. She had a bucolic childhood spent in the rural Kenyan countryside and was sent to St. Cecilia Intermediary, a mission school, for her primary education. In the midst of enormous challenges and obstacles, she created a formidable Green Belt Movement (GBM) to empower grassroots women. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The life of Wangari Muta Maathai (1940-2011) was strongly shaped by her rural environment, missionary education, and exposure to university education in the United States and Germany. 55. In the forests of Aberdares and Mount Kenya, guerilla warfare was intense. The Swynnerton Plan and subsequent government policies informed land settlement schemes which were funded by the British government to buy out white settler farmers, and to appease released Mau Mau detainees and landless people displaced as result of land consolidation in native reserves. These land reforms changed the social, economic, political, and ecological landscape of central Kenya, and affected village life and the environment where Maathai grew up. 51. On Sunday, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. 13. Suffice it to say, she mobilized local and international communities to save Uhuru Park from being turned into a concrete jungle. As more funds were secured and more international attention gained, the GBM was assured of survival, both financially and politically. Maathai had the unique opportunity of going to school when girls in her age group were typically not given the opportunity of doing so. Lawrence M. Njoroge, A Century of Catholic Endeavour: Holy Ghost and Consolata Missions in Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya: Pauline Publications Africa, 2000); Samuel G. Kibicho, God and Revelation in an African Context (Nairobi, Kenya: Action Publishers, 2006); and David P. Sandgren, Mau Maus Children: The Making of Kenyas Postcolonial Elite (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2012). The genius of Maathai and other women leaders was to turn this elite organization into a vehicle for the empowerment of rural women. Maathai was an elected member of the Parliament of Kenya and between January 2003 and November 2005 served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki. Individual ownership of land and the introduction of cash crops drastically altered how people related to their environment.25 The indigenous trees were cut to prepare ground for planting coffee, tea, and wetlands; sacred groves and common grazing areas were subdivided, shared, and privatized.26 The consequences of these changes were observed by the young Maathai and responded to by the GBM in the 80s and 90s. << /Linearized 1 /L 82815 /H [ 810 195 ] /O 26 /E 63939 /N 11 /T 82414 >> Her interactions with other womenher mother, teachers, and grassroots womenalso had a great impact on her work and commitment. She creatively defied this by changing her last name to Maathai, by adding an a to her ex-husbands surname. This source is a well-written and detailed autobiography from the topic, Wangari Maathai. Wangari Maathai held her Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway. It focused on the value of tree-planting programs, as well as dealing with environmental deterioration in rural areas resulting from the intensified cultivation of cash crops and population growth. Maathai, Unbowed, 5960; and Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, 8791. As a national school, Loreto High School provided Maathai with the opportunity to interact with girls from other ethnic groups in Kenya. Fresh Air Weekend Fresh Air Weekend: NPR host Mary Louise Kelly; Josh Groban. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, in recognition of her work with the Green Belt Movement, a group that organizes disadvantaged women in Africa to plant trees in order to preserve the environment and improve women' quality of life. stream 22 0 obj Some of her most important speeches can be found on the GBM website, including: Bottlenecks to Development in Africa, Fourth UN World Womens Conference in Beijing, China, August 30, 1995; Speak Truth to Power, May 4, 2000; Noble Lecture during the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Oslo, Norway, December 10, 2004; Rise Up and Walk! At times she utilized these international alliances and networks to expose the atrocities and injustices that people had suffered under the auspices of their own government. This conspicuous trajectory rendered her quite visible and a target of concern by the authoritarian state and political system.32, Upon Maathai being elected chairperson in 1980, the largest member organization in the council, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, withdrew its membership. Her venture into politics plunged her into new controversies and, ironically, resulted in more publicity for the GBM. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, African History. All the girls in the school came from the same community, but were prohibited from speaking their language. The culture of planting trees took root everywhere in Kenya toward the end of last decade of the 20th century. Upon entry into St. Cecilias Intermediate Primary School, she embraced Roman Catholic teachings, especially the Legion of Mary. Elsewhere, especially in the Rift Valley, where people were embroiled in state-sponsored ethnic conflicts since the early 1990s, Maathai joined with the churches, democratic activists, civil society organizations, international and local press to highlight atrocities committed against nonKalenjin ethnic communities in various parts of the Rift Valley. There, Maathai changed her first baptismal name and became a staunch member of the Legion of Mary, which encouraged the values of service and volunteering. Africentrism. I'm very conscious of the fact that you can't do it alone. Her resignation was accepted, but she was disqualified to stand as a candidate allegedly because she had not been registered as a voter. 31. She was elected to Kenyas National Assembly in 2002 with 98 percent of the vote, and in 2003 she was appointed assistant minister of environment, natural resources, and wildlife. In the midst of her demanding career as an environmental and political activist, Maathai enjoyed motherhood and was very protective of her children. Dr. Samuel Kobia, Annetta Miller, Harold Miller, Ms. Lillian W. Mwaura, Mr. Joshua S. Muiru, Ms. Njeri Muhoro, Prof. Gideon Cyrus Mutiso, and Mr. Titus K. Muya. Roland Hoksbergen and Lowell M. Ewert (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2002). The impact of changes in rural Kenya was complicated by emerging corruption among Kenyas elite. Maathais knowledge of the German language (which was a minor subject during study for her first degree) became useful as it enabled her to interact with the German lecturers who were assisting with the establishment of a school of veterinary medicine. She also had close relationships with other African regional institutionsfor instance, the African Development Bank (AfDB). Outspokenness constituted stepping far outside traditional gender roles review what youve submitted and determine to! 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