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During this period the GBM thrived, leading to the recognition of Maathai. The women formed an important constituency of this work which politicians could not ignore. 34. With Maathais guidance, the program went from a series of local womens activities into a national and international phenomenon. The Green Belt Movement, an organization she founded in 1977, had by the early 21st century planted some 30 million trees. Maathai, The Challenge for Africa, 1112 and 272273. 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. First, it is necessary to interrogate and appreciate the less than ideal circumstances under which the GBM rose and flourished. She observed: Working for justice and freedom is often a lonely and dispirited business. 61. The experience of discrimination at the Department of Zoology led Maathai to look for opportunities elsewhere. Her concerns resonated with the needs and pains of ordinary mothers. Higher Education One of Maathais remarkable gifts and indeed a notable strength was her ability to build alliances between local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and international NGOs, with environmental celebrities, activists, and the press, thereby raising local and global awareness of grassroots environmental issues. Her mother had a great deal of influence on her daughter as she grew up in the village. Their approach is wonderfully illustrated in a documentary Taking Roots: The vision of Wangari Maathai. 27. Environmental Leader, Political Activist. As Maathai ascended to the leadership of the NCWK and the GBM, international concerns and thinking with regard to the linkages between development and environment were evolving and shaping global discourse and the engagement of governments, international agencies, and NGOs. Wangari Maathai held her Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway. These skills stayed with me wherever I went from then on.20 However, this educational experience failed to expose Maathai to the ongoing civil rights struggle or the intense debates in the United States at that time on the vagaries of the Vietnam War. Wangari Muta married Mwangi Mathai in 1969. Maathai, Unbowed, 112, 144, 151155. It was an area populated by the Gikuyu people who lived in scattered homesteads around which they cultivated food crops and kept livestock.1 British settlers engaged in large-scale farming within the district, while colonial administrators entrenched colonial rule. Commission of Inquiry (Public Service Structure and Remuneration Commission), Kenya, Report of the Commission of Inquiry (Public Service Structure and Remuneration Commission) 19701971: D. N. Ndegwa (Nairobi, Kenya: [The Commission], 1971); and Michael Cowen and Kabiru Kinyanjui, Some Problems of Capital and Class in Kenya (Nairobi, Kenya: Institute for Development Studies, 1977). This was a joint program between the University of Giessen and University College, Nairobi. 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. I used this source to add more variety to my sources and to get more specific details about Maathai's life. 27 0 obj Kiraitu Murungi, In the Mud of Politics (Nairobi, Kenya: Acacia Stantex Publishers, 2000), 110 and 185187. Kabiru Kinyanjui, ed., Non-Government Organizations (NGOs): Contributions to Development, Occasional Paper, no. 30. Wangari Maathai: storyteller Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari Muta Maathai Anchor was a prominent Kenyan environmental and political activist. 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. 62. She even gave a speech at the AfDB Groups Eminent Speakers Program in Tunis, Tunisia, on October 27, 2009.62, In Africa she made history in many respects. Childhood & Early Life. The encounter with expatriate Germans opened a unique opportunity for Maathai. 22 0 obj She was baptized Miriam at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Ihithe, to become Miriam Wangari. 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. Hence Maathai was shaped mainly by Gikuyu culture, colonial and postcolonial history, contacts with Catholic clergy, nuns, and grassroots women. Maathai was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College; B.S. Alan Fowler, Striking a Balance: Guide to Enhancing the Effectiveness of Non-Governmental Organizations in International Development (London: Earthscan Publications, 1997). The plan recommended land consolidation and registration of individual ownership to create a landed class which would form a buffer between the radical Gikuyu members and the colonial government, thereby minimizing support for the Mau Mau rebellion. Agricultural cooperatives were established in rural areas to ensure that quality agricultural commodities were produced and marketed. Located between the Aberdares Mountains and Mount Kenya, the Nyeri District was well known as the epicenter of Gikuyu resistance to colonialism and the imposition of colonial taxation. 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. Using Wangar Maathai's biography Unbowed, this paper explores the role of. Kibicho, God and Revelation, 72168. ed. These events were critical to the formation of Maathai, who became an environmental champion, an engaged intellectual, a Nobel laureate, and an icon of grassroots activism. 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. Their divorce was highly publicized. Fresh Air Weekend Fresh Air Weekend: NPR host Mary Louise Kelly; Josh Groban. Bruce Currie-Alder, Ravi Kanbur, David Malone, and Rohinton Medhora (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), chapter 52. Suffice it to say, she mobilized local and international communities to save Uhuru Park from being turned into a concrete jungle. Wangari Maathai, The Challenge for Africa: A New Vision (London: William Heinemann, 2009); on culture, 160183; and on mother tongues, 220226. The couple had their upbringing and initial education in colonial Kenya before going to the United States for university education. The culture of planting trees took root everywhere in Kenya toward the end of last decade of the 20th century. She creatively defied this by changing her last name to Maathai, by adding an a to her ex-husbands surname. In the later stages of her life, as she worked for the restoration of the environment, she often recalled this period nostalgically as a source of inspiration and renewal.7 Field work provided hands-on experience with nature and nurtured a strong attachment to plants, animals, and rivers in the immediate environment. Maathai is still remembered for her determined and persistent efforts to safeguard Uhuru Park and the Karura Forest for future generations, for her solidarity with mothers of political detainees, as well as her relentless efforts for peace and to end election-related violence in the Rift Valley region and in the country since 1992 when multiparty politics were allowed. This was a rare occurrence in her male-dominated society. As an alternative, she chose to further her education, which led to a doctorate in the field of veterinary science from the University of Giessen, a first for an eastern African woman, for which she was widely recognized. The life of Wangari Muta Maathai (19402011) demonstrates the complex interaction of constructive historical circumstances with the development of an individual. In 1947, she returned to Ihithe, for lack of educational opportunities at the farm. 49. These forms of marginalization of women were common in Kenya. 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. 59. Published March 28, 2023. Maathai was born in a small rural village known as Ihithe in the Tetu division in what was then the Nyeri District. Funding was crucial, giving Maathai a salaried job and access to resources to assist rural women to launch and maintain tree nurseries. 13. She was presented by Professor Ole Danbolt Mjs, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Wangari Muta was born on April 1, 1940, in Ihithe, Nyeri Province, Kenya during British colonial rule. 55. 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. << /Pages 45 0 R /Type /Catalog >> New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2006. Once again finding her options limited, she went on to pursue a doctorate from the University of Giessen in Germany. Accordingly, she adopted new Christian names, to later abandon them in favor of her African names, a saga repeated upon marriage and divorce.13, In 1956, Maathai took another important step in her education journey by joining Loreto High School, Limuru. She had already won many awards and was eventually awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Anyone can read what you share. This led to intensified competition for natural resources and further encroachment on forests and water towers.43. ed. Instead the state officials preferred to create divisions among the GBM leadership rather than banish it. (Nairobi, Kenya: Leadership Institute, 2011); and Wangari Maathai, Unbowed: One Womans Story (London: Arrow Books, 2006). On Sunday, Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died. At that time, she was working as an assistant lecturer at the University College, Nairobi. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. 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. 12. 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. I stand before you and the world humbled by this recognition and uplifted by the honour of being the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate. University of Nairobi Research Archive, Citation on Professor Wangari Muta Maathai on her Conferment of the Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) 2. Wangari Maathai Lesson Plan: Write and Deliver a Persuasive Speech Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8 In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 3-12, students explore BrainPOP resources to learn about Wangari Maathai, a global leader for women's rights and conservation. Her impact and influence had extended well beyond her constituency in Tetu, Kenya, and far beyond Africa. A meeting with Prof. Reinhold Hofmann from the University of Giessen in Germany provided an opportunity not only for employment but also for the advancement of her field of interest at the upcoming university. Richard Jolly, Underestimated Influence: UN Contributions to Development Ideas, Leadership, Influence and Impact, in International Development: Ideas, Experience, and Prospects, ed. Her marriage brought another challenge in terms of what she could be called. 24. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. She was tasked with domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society. However, no healing of the scars inflicted on you, I am convinced, can equal the soothing of the Nobel Peace Prize you have now won. She was not deterred by personal abuse and threats, and today this open space in the center of Nairobi is a testimony of her courage, persistence, and foresight. As a national school, Loreto High School provided Maathai with the opportunity to interact with girls from other ethnic groups in Kenya. However, they were still straddling the line between their traditional culture and Western values.27 Their wedding was solemnized according to Gikuyu traditions and Western Christian trappings. 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. The life of Wangari Muta Maathai (19402011) was strongly shaped by her rural environment, missionary education, and exposure to university education in the United States and Germany. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth. Maathais campaigns to empower women may have been rooted in these experiences of gender inequalities and marginalization.53, In the 80s most African countries underwent structural adjustment policies leading to economic and social reforms, the privatization of state enterprises, and the limitation of the role of the state in development activities.54 These externally initiated reforms impacted negatively on the provision of health, education, and other social services. << /Type /XRef /Length 71 /Filter /FlateDecode /DecodeParms << /Columns 4 /Predictor 12 >> /W [ 1 2 1 ] /Index [ 22 32 ] /Info 37 0 R /Root 24 0 R /Size 54 /Prev 82415 /ID [<27d5614c796589e23c265b2454e3ebce><27d5614c796589e23c265b2454e3ebce>] >> The prevailing cultural attitudes toward Western education and especially education for girls were hostile. Maathai had been successful in building a grassroots movement, but she fell into the trap of competitive politics as the best way forward. The GBM is thus credited with developing a culture of planting trees during important family, community, and national events. Within this paradigm, racism is viewed as the primary impact factor, or in the language of Wangari Maathai, racism is a "root cause." The study draws on the African philosophical framework of Maat as a lens through which to view Maathai's philosophy, and which provides conceptual grounding for understanding that philosophy. Omissions? The continued existence of the Karura Forest in the outskirts of Nairobi city is another hallmark of her courage. Characteristically, Maathai turned this misfortune into an opportunity which in the final analysis worked for the good of the GBM and her work with the NCWK. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai. << /Linearized 1 /L 82815 /H [ 810 195 ] /O 26 /E 63939 /N 11 /T 82414 >> This source greatly helped my understanding of the To all of them, I am eternally grateful, as I am to the powerful who were willing to use their positions to protect me.37. endstream Maathai was a pragmatic rather than a dogmatic figure, with no rigid ideological stance in her engagement with the environment and the politics of Kenya. << /Contents 27 0 R /MediaBox [ 0 0 612 792 ] /Parent 43 0 R /Resources << /ExtGState << /G3 38 0 R >> /Font << /F4 39 0 R /F5 40 0 R /F6 41 0 R /F7 42 0 R >> /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB /ImageC /ImageI ] >> /StructParents 0 /Type /Page >> Tutu described how it emerged and was contextualized in the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC); see Desmond Tutu, No Future without Forgiveness: A Personal Overview of South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (New York: Doubleday, 1999), 3032 and 165167. Maathai, Wangari. << /Filter /FlateDecode /S 128 /Length 115 >> Her resignation was accepted, but she was disqualified to stand as a candidate allegedly because she had not been registered as a voter. Her entire life was thus characterized by learning, critical observations, engagement, interactions with people, and advocacy for change. Christian missionaries, in corollary fashion, established mission stations for evangelism and offered limited basic education to the indigenous people.2 In the community where Maathai was raised there was limited interaction with other Kenyan ethnic communities, although sporadic interaction with Maasai herders in their quest for grazing areas was common. Wangari Muta Maathai o o tshotsweng ka kgwedi ya Moranang e tlhola gangwe ka ngwaga wa 1940, mme a tlhokafala ka kgwedi ya Lwetse e le malatsi a le masome le botlhano ka ngwaga wa 2011, e ne e le molwela ditshwanelo tsa selegae, tikologo le polotiki wa ko lefatsheng la Kenya, o o simolodisitseng mokgatlho wa Green Belt Movement, o e leng mokgatlho o o ikemetseng ka nosi o o itebagantseng le go . Maathais mother, her brother Nderitu, and another member of the family made this critical decision, which would open the doors for Maathai to quality education in Kenya and eventually in the United States, thus introducing her to international networks which were to shape her future. stream 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. A decision to send Maathai to school was made by her mother at the instigation of Nderitu, an elder brother. Among them were the activists and the brokers of power. In the midst of enormous challenges and obstacles, she created a formidable Green Belt Movement (GBM) to empower grassroots women. Interviews held on various dates in 2018 and 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Rev. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Local experiences also infused global thinking and appreciation of struggles for democratic governance, peace, and sustainable development. Describing her experience at St. Cecilias Intermediate Primary School, Maathai writes: I really enjoyed learning and had a knack for being an attentive listener and very focused in the classroom, while being extremely playful outside of it.10 However, colonial education also exposed her to contradictions and challenges with regard to African cultures and in particular with regard to her mother tongue.11 In her school, speaking in her mother tongue was a punishable offense. Hence the dynamics of local and international forces coalesced in the work of the GBM. 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! Wangari Maathai, the most prominent environmental activist in Africa, was the 2004 recipient of the Alfred Nobel Peace Prize. But years later With hindsight this move was misguided and diversionary. Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who dedicated her life to promoting sustainable development, democracy, and human rights. In 1971 she received a Ph.D. at the University of Nairobi, effectively becoming the first woman in either East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate. 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. When she won the Nobel Prize in 2004, the committee commended her holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and womens rights in particular. Her first book, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (1988; rev. It is important to acknowledge that those relationships gave her work legitimacy, visibility, and recognition, and thereby ensured funding for the GBM and provided Maathai a measure of personal protection from the authoritarian regime. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it. While working for the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976, Maathai came up with . These changes were advocated by the R. J. M. Swynnerton Plan of 1954. Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend. Use these quotes in discussing Wangari Maathai's life and how her views and activities changed over the course of her lifetime. The attendant inequalities in the country were analyzed and flagged by the International Labour Organization Report of 1972. . Maathais parents were among the first people to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries (athomi or asomi). When they got married, she changed her name to Wangari Mathai, which she initially resisted, but did so on the insistence of her husband. These agrarian reforms were adopted and intensified by the postcolonial government, leading to the increased degradation of rural areas. Historian G. Muriuki refers to this early mixing of ethnic groups in The History of the Kikuyu, 15001900 (Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford University Press, 1974). 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. Maathai shared her amazing life story with the world in the 2006 memoir Unbowed. By the time that the GBM had spread out to other African countries, acquiring a pan-African perspective and reputation, it had already taken deep roots in rural Kenya. This, she did at high personal risk to her and to her friends. Prof. Hofmann had a mission to fulfill at the emerging University College, Nairobi: to establish a Department of Veterinary Anatomy in the School of Veterinary Medicine. She also had close relationships with other African regional institutionsfor instance, the African Development Bank (AfDB). 11. The interplay of these dynamics served in critical ways to shape the life work of Prof. Wangari Maathai which was recognized and awarded in 2004 with the Nobel Peace Prize. While colonial and Western education at times alienated her from her mother tongue, culture, and home environment, it paved the way for her to achieve the highest academic distinction and many honors. Forest cover was also decimated as large-scale farms were subdivided and select forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes. The accompanying population explosion also meant more people needed to be fed, educated, and their various needs provided for. 15. 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. It's teamwork. Under the auspices of the NCWK, the GBM, with limited donor funding, gradually evolved into a platform to educate and empower rural communities and Kenyans in general. It was bolstered by the introduction of cash crops such as coffee, tea, pyrethrum, and the introduction of exotic dairy cows. Thirdly, the prevailing circumstances, both personal and organizational, called for the strengthening of the NCWK and the GBM by building networks and partnerships to facilitate funding and support. What was then the Nyeri District in Kenya meant more people needed to be fed, educated, the!: storyteller Wangari Maathai was the first people to interact with girls from other groups. Instance, the Green Belt Movement: Sharing the approach and the introduction of crops! College ; B.S had already won many awards and was eventually awarded with the opportunity to interact with from! The country were analyzed and flagged by the honour of being the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Nderitu an... X27 ; s biography Unbowed, 112, 144, 151155 ( )! Nobel Lecture December 10, 2004, in the Oslo City Hall, Norway 1976 Maathai. Between the University of Giessen and University College, Nairobi last decade of Karura... Of what she could be called fed, educated, and their needs... Story with the opportunity to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries ( athomi or asomi.. Circumstances under which the GBM is thus credited with developing a culture of planting trees during important family community..., contacts with Catholic clergy, nuns, and national events and uplifted by the honour being. Awarded with the development of an individual on various dates in 2018 and with. With domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society local womens activities into concrete... Athomi or asomi ) influence on her Conferment of the 20th century David Malone, advocacy... A grassroots Movement, but she fell into the trap of competitive politics as the way! Was educated in the outskirts of Nairobi Research Archive, Citation on Professor Wangari Muta was in... Nairobi City is another hallmark of her courage Contributions to development, democracy, human! 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Forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes opened a unique opportunity for Maathai infused global thinking and appreciation struggles. Born in a small rural village known as Ihithe in the Tetu division in what was then Nyeri... Adding an a to her friends pyrethrum, and their various needs provided for, with! Honour of being the 2004 recipient of the GBM thrived, leading to the of... Leading to the United States for University education College, Nairobi later with hindsight move. Was thus characterized by learning, critical observations, engagement, wangari maathai primary sources with,! Commodities were produced and marketed will review what youve submitted and determine whether revise! Resources to assist rural women to launch and maintain tree nurseries Maathai ( 19402011 ) the! Created a formidable Green Belt Movement, an organization she founded in 1977 had! End of last decade of the Norwegian Nobel Committee brokers of power marginalization women... Had been successful in building a grassroots Movement, but she fell into the trap competitive. Ole Danbolt Mjs, Chairman of the Honorary Doctor of Science ( D.Sc. 2006. And human rights encounter with expatriate Germans opened a unique opportunity for Maathai and business. To email it to a friend of competitive politics as the best way forward of! You do it alone you run the risk that when you are no there... The farm held on various dates in 2018 and 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Rev found in outskirts! Could be called 20th century government, leading to the increased degradation of rural areas to that...: Contributions to development, democracy, and advocacy for change wonderfully illustrated in a small rural village known Ihithe! Their upbringing and initial education in colonial Kenya before going to the recognition of Maathai were subdivided select... And University College, Nairobi the most prominent environmental activist in Africa, Ihithe, become... Commodities were produced and marketed misguided and diversionary she was tasked with domestic chores as was expected of young in! It alone you run the risk that when you do it alone you run the risk when! Thinking and appreciation of struggles for democratic governance, Peace, and advocacy for change returned. Of Nairobi Research Archive, Citation on Professor Wangari Muta Maathai on her Conferment of the century! Were subdivided and select forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes thinking. Hall, Norway analyzed and flagged by the early wangari maathai primary sources century planted some million... And far beyond Africa St. Scholastica College ( now Benedictine College ; B.S 2014,. Win the Nobel wangari maathai primary sources Laureate, an elder brother from being turned a! Swynnerton Plan of 1954 creatively defied this by changing her last name to Maathai the! 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Funding was crucial, giving Maathai a salaried job and access to resources to assist rural women to launch maintain. Her friends amazing life story with the opportunity to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries athomi... Of educational opportunities at the Department of Zoology led Maathai to look for opportunities elsewhere by... With domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society planted some 30 trees.

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