Womanist Affairs

Dr. Wangari Maathai organized women in her home country of Kenya to plant trees to save the environment. It might not sound like a major victory or task, but the government did not want this to happen.

Dr. Wangari Receives Nobel Peace Prize 2004

She was told at first that people without diplomas can not plant trees. At this she laughed and kept organizing women of Africa to plant trees to save the lives of their children’s children. Many people don’t understand that without TREES, we will eventually run out of oxygen and not be able to breathe.  They are necessary to our survival.
The people of Kenya had been cutting trees for fuel. This had been going on for years and was devastating the land.

The land was being eroded and destroyed when it rained.   It devastated the terrain causing flooding and with great loss of the ancient forests of Kenya, which have helped the people survive since the beginning of time. At great risk to her own life, Wangari was determined to re -plant trees for her environment. Upon threats to her life and bodily harm from organized government interventionists,  she continued to organize the women who continued to plant the trees and work together to ensure that the land they depended upon would be saved. She and the women came under attack by the government of  Kenya. The government  didn’t want to lose control of the people.  It seems that ignorance and dependence upon the government was the psychology used by the leaders [at the time] to maintain order and submission.

Wangari was often asked, ” Aren’t you afraid that you will disappear or be arrested for what you are doing?”   Maathai says that she didn’t own that,  so she went on looking forward to the work she knew she had to do.  The movement was named  “The Green Belt Movement.”  Harm did eventually come to Wangari during her successful movement.  She was beaten by insurrectionists paid by the government to stop her. It was so severe that she was hospitalized.  Still she continued.  Private groups were paid to deter the women she organized, from continuing on with their job of saving the ancient forest lands. These women worked with Wangara in spite of the dangers to themselves and their families. They were educated to the fact that they needed to take action among themselves, for themselves if there was going to be a home for their children’s children in the future.  The land erosion was destroying their world as they knew it.

Organizing the women accomplished what she set out to do.  We have one planet and without it where are we going to live.  Once it is destroyed by us, what jump off point is next. Exactly!! There is none. So, Wangari understood that we have to do it ourselves, NOW.  The controlling government of Kenya was not a deterrence.  She worked on organizing the women to plant trees to save the environment.  To date, it is estimated that by 1977, Wangari’s  “Green Belt Movement” had planted over 13 million trees.

View the illustrious work and challenges by Dr. Wangari on the video clip here.

Now Deputy Minister of Environment, [elected to this office] she has received recognition by the people for the important work she has done. ” Without the land we don’t survive “–was her battle cry when she endured the threats and physical violence her movement brought into her life. But she realized that if not her, than who would help Kenya realize the threat to their healthful environment;  an ingredient necessary for a sustainable future.  Dr. Wangari Maathai is a walking example of transformational change and leadership.
Born in 1940 in Nyeri Kenya, [Africa] Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree.  After completing the regular education allotted to women in Kenya, she was selected to go to the U.S. to pursue a college education.
She obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964).  Subsequently, Maathai earned a Master of Science from the University of Pittsburgh (1966). She returned home and pursued doctoral studies in Germany and the University of Nairobi–earning her PhD in 1971.
Dr. Maathai began a teaching career at the University of Nairobi after earning her doctorate.  She became Chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an Associate Professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively.  In both instances, she was the first woman to attain those positions in the region. Wangari became active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976-1987 and was also the Chair of this women’s organization in 1981-1987.  While its Chair, she introduced the idea of planting trees in 1976 and it took hold within the culture of  the women.
Since Ancient times, African Women’s Organizations have been instrumental in forming grassroots movements that addressed the survival of their people.  This grassroots movement started by Dr. Maathai is only one example of the type of work African women have done down through the centuries, in spite of intervention,  threats to their lives and lives loss–for the survival of their families.
In 1986, the movement started by Dr. Maathai was named Pan African Green  Belt Network and exposed other African countries to the approach. Similar tree planting initiatives have been started all over Africa–Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and others.  Dr. Maathai’s hue and cry was “SAVE THE LAND, HARAMBEE.”  In September 1998, she launched a campaign entitled the Jubilee 2000 Coalition. Constantly embarking upon new challenges, she plays a leading role in a campaign to save the physical land of Africa for its people.
Minister Maathai has embarked upon an African Campaign that seeks cancellation of the unpayable backlog of debts of the poor countries of Africa. Her campaign is against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of forests land has caught the limelight of the world. Interestingly, the debts owed by poor African countries might more earnestly be voided  if a tally was taken on those who have robbed her over the centuries–of her gold, jewels, precious and semi-precious stones and metals–who returned to steal her land and natural resources– and now strangle hold African minds and bodies. That tally would surely wipe out all national and international debt. Wangari Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental resources.

She continues to fight for the rights of women tirelessly.  Maathai tirelessly speaks on this issue in special sessions with the General Assembly always in hope of making a difference.  What is interesting though is that African women do have power on a grassroots level where they affect the lives of their people –once they are organized.  This is traditional organizing that may only affect the community in which the women live, but this type of powerful movement often occurs and it defines the strength of women’s organizations throughout Africa– existing for centuries. Women of Color in the U.S.  need to take a seat at their feet to learn.
Professor Maathai and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards:  2004 Peace Prize, The Sophia Prize-2004, The Petra Kelly Prize for Environment 2004, The Conservation Award–2003, Outstanding Vision and  Commitment Award -2002; WANGO Environment Award 2003, Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award 2002, Excellence Award from the Kenyan  Community Abroad 2001, Gold Ark Award 1994, Juliet Hollister Award 2001.

Wangari Maathai has personally been awarded the Jane Adams Leadership Award 1993, Edinburgh Medal 1993, The Hunger Project’s Africa  Prize for Leadership 1991, Windstar Award for the Environment 1988, Better World Society Award 1986, and many others.  She has received honorary doctoral degrees from institutions world-wide.

Most recently however, Dr. Wangari Maathai was honored by the NAACP Image Awards, this February 2009.  She was being recognized for her continued work with the Green Belt Movement and for encouraging Women’s education in Environmental and Biolgical Sciences.  Professor Maathai feels strongly that more women should be given more opportunity to be educated in her country.

Above is the URL address of a short documentary film that I hope you will visit to learn more about her life and continued work. Wangari Maathai has written her memoirs entiled;  Unbowed: a memoir–published by William Heinermann, London 2007.
This article features information accumulated by the autobiography/biography written at the time of her award and later published in the book series; Les Prix Nobel/Nobel Lectures.  The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate.

4 Responses to “Sung Sheroe: Dr. Wangari Maathai (2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner)”