The overall objective was to control the politics of womens empowerment.33 The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) was also a victim of a similar tactic when it became a fierce critic of the authoritarian tendencies of the Moi regime. Their approach is wonderfully illustrated in a documentary Taking Roots: The vision of Wangari Maathai. stream Maathai shared her amazing life story with the world in the 2006 memoir Unbowed. 33. At the same time, Maathais life was greatly influenced by the splendor and simplicity of rural Gikuyu community life, values which subsequently engaged with Western education and religion, with ethnic and gender biases, and with state power and international development thinking. 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. 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. 25 0 obj Interviews held on various dates in 2018 and 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, 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. 7. Dr. Samuel Kobia, Annetta Miller, Harold Miller, Ms . They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 1. In her final years, she battled ovarian cancer. Then she was confronted with the fact that she had no job nor house to live inhard realities. In 1997 and 2002, Maathai ventured into electoral politics once more. Her concerns resonated with the needs and pains of ordinary mothers. The drift toward authoritarianism had emerged in the late 60s and 70s under Kenyas first President, Jomo Kenyatta, and was consolidated in the 80s with the ascendancy of the Moi regime.47 One party rule was legalized, and dissent was punished by arbitrary arrests, torture, and detention without trial.48 Maathai took up the leadership of the NCWK and subsequently as a coordinator of the GBM as state control and surveillance was intensified. Wangari Maathai came from a family of Athomi (Maathai, Unbowed, 1112). 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. Other influential circumstances include an encounter on a settlers farm in the Nakuru region of Kenya, engagements with women in tree-planting ventures, and intense protracted struggles for the democratization of Kenya. The daughter of a peasant farmer and the third . While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. When conflict engulfed central Kenya and some men went into the forest to fight and others detained, it was women who took care of their families: providing food, building houses, and in some cases educating children.52 When Maathai came home during the school holidays, this was the reality that confronted her. 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. Wangar Maathai was a Kenyan social, political and environmental activist who was a leading figure in the environmentalist movement in Africa and across the world. She was brought up, taught, encouraged, and mentored by womenher mother, village women, and teachers (nuns in particular). There her interest in the sciences was further nurtured by the Catholic nun teachers. Kabiru Kinyanjui, ed., Non-Government Organizations (NGOs): Contributions to Development, Occasional Paper, no. The Green Belt Movement, an organization she founded in 1977, had by the early 21st century planted some 30 million trees. Justin Chang reviews Showing Up.Groban first auditioned to . Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount . Initially, the NCWK was an organization led by urban elite women and intended to give a voice to womens organizations. The United Nations (UN) conferences in the 70s provided the base for global debates on environment and equality for women that dominated the rest of the 20th century and beyond. Agricultural cooperatives were established in rural areas to ensure that quality agricultural commodities were produced and marketed. 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. An interview with Prof. Cyrus Mutiso indicated that Prof. Mathaai built the GBM on existing self-improvement womens groups such as the Nyakinyua Mabati womens groups located in the Nyeri and Muranga Counties. Kelly reflects on juggling motherhood and chasing the news. At the insistence of her mother and her brother Nderitu, Maathai was enrolled at a Presbyterian church Primary School, Ihitheand there began her exposure to Western education.8 This experience ignited a passion for education, which Maathai captured in later writings: How I longed to be able to write something and rub it out. Maathai played an active part in the struggle for democracy in Kenya, and belonged to the opposition . Wangari Maathai. 16. Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, African History. 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 . To the school calendar. Through interaction with the nuns, Maathai gained the Christian values of respect for the dignity of all human beings.14 Most of these blended well with the Gikuyu values of hard work, respect for fellow humans, and an appreciation for the dignity and wisdom derived from being a member of a community, referred to elsewhere as ubuntu.15 In many respects she became ecumenical, embracing religious ideas and values from other world faiths, especially as they related to the protection of the environment.16 Although she was one of the educated girls, she never lost touch with her rural roots and the common people. These agrarian reforms were adopted and intensified by the postcolonial government, leading to the increased degradation of rural areas. With hindsight this move was misguided and diversionary. Ecologist Wangari Maathai won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for her years of work with women to reverse African deforestation. 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. 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. Her achievements were appealing to all ideological shades. Maathai was born in polygamous family. In the midst of enormous challenges and obstacles, she created a formidable Green Belt Movement (GBM) to empower grassroots women. 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. She summarized her experiences at Mount St. Scholastica College in the following manner: My four years at the Mount, and experiences I had both on and off campus, nurtured in me a willingness to listen and learn, to think critically and analytically, and to ask questions. University of Nairobi Research Archive, Citation on Professor Wangari Muta Maathai on her Conferment of the Honorary Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) On this farm she interacted with ordinary people from other ethnic communities as well as foreigners. Such was the world into which Maathai was born in 1940 and subsequently raised. The World Conference on Women held in Mexico (1975) and subsequent ones in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995) set the stage for fundamental changes in gender policies, relations, and for womens participation in development and leadership.49, International discourse on the environment and climate change also advanced after the Stockholm conference through a series of initiatives culminating in the United Nations Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED), Earth Summit (1992), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg, South Africa (2002).50 Such discourse broadened debates on development, giving critical attention to issues surrounding the environment and climate change. The influence of the nuns began in this school and continued all the way to university. ed. 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. stream To begin with, Maathai had to contest for a position in the NCWK leadership. During the period when Maathai was acquiring her education in Kenya and the United States (19521966), the respective colonial and independent governments were undertaking far-reaching agricultural reforms in central Kenya. She began teaching in the Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Nairobi after graduation, and in 1977 she became chair of the department. She affirmed earth and water, air and the waning fire of the sun combine to form the essential elements of life and reveal to me my kinship with the soil.63. Duncan Ndegwa, Congratulatory Letter, December 2, 2004, in Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, 595. 22 0 obj Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. In 1966, Maathai returned to Kenya confident and with high hopes for making a contribution to the newly independent country. Although seen by some as an ill-advised move, in retrospect it proved a boon for the development of the GBM and the career of Maathai in environmental advocacy. She published an autobiography, Unbowed, in 2007. Hannah Wangechi Kinoti, African Ethics: Gikuyu Traditional Morality (Nairobi, Kenya: Catholic University of Eastern Africa Press, 2013). It thus became a critical constituency for experimenting with new ideas. A church allied to President Moi withdrew from the NCCK in similar circumstances.34 Thereafter Maendeleo ya Wanawake was integrated within the ruling party, the Kenya African National Union (KANU), until the overwhelming defeat of the party in the general elections of 2002.35, Secondly, in 1982 for the first time, Maathai ventured into electoral politics. Hence Maathai was shaped mainly by Gikuyu culture, colonial and postcolonial history, contacts with Catholic clergy, nuns, and grassroots women. 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. 55. 11. In the midst of her demanding career as an environmental and political activist, Maathai enjoyed motherhood and was very protective of her children. of the University of Nairobi, March 11, 2005. The life of Wangari Muta Maathai (19402011) demonstrates the complex interaction of constructive historical circumstances with the development of an individual. It became known as the home of renowned Mau Mau freedom fighters, outstanding postcolonial leaders, and intellectuals.4 Leaders such as the legendary freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi, former President Mwai Kibaki, and Wangari Maathai had their beginnings in the district. In discussing her childhood in her autobiography, Maathai paints a picture of an idyllic life set in a pristine and lush rural environment. The couple had similar family backgrounds. The concept of Ubuntu has been widely discussed in South Africa, but here it refers to Desmond Tutus rendering of it in his book, God Is Not a Christian: Speaking Truth in Times of Crisis (London: Rider, 2013), 2124. 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. Member organizations were usually part of a countrywide network that resonated with concerns of grassroots women. 29. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History, Early States and State Formation in Africa, Historical Preservation and Cultural Heritage, Formal Education in Kenya and the United States, The Place of Wangari Maathai in Kenya, Africa, and the World, https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.480, United Nations Conference on Human Environment, World Conference of the International Womens Year, United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, United Nations Conference on Science and Technology for Development, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, World Conference of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the United Nations Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, United Nations Conference on Environmental Development (UNCED), Earth Summit, World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Wangari Maathai: Key Speeches and Articles, Women, Gender, and Sexuality in East Africa. The first indigenous woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai started school in 1948 at Ihithe Primary School. It diverted her critical energies from the issues that were dear to the GBM. When she was growing up, her father, a truck driver, made sure she was brought into family discussions and valued her opinions. Her adage that when we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and hope remains an inspiration. 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. During this period the GBM thrived, leading to the recognition of Maathai. In the following year, despite political and ethnic maneuvers, she was elected to the position of chairperson and re-elected repeatedly until 1987, when she retired from the position. Wangari Maathai Lesson Plan: Individual's Contributions Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8 *Click to open and customize your own copy of the Wangari Maathai Lesson Plan . Despite the complexities and diversions that characterized her career, Wangari Maathai did succeed in the promotion and execution of important ideas and projects whose time had come.41 Eventually in 2002, on her third attempt, she was elected as a member of the Kenyan parliament and as a member of the National Rainbow Coalition which emerged out of the ashes of the dying authoritarian rule of Moi and KANU. . However, some people who had early contact with colonialists and missionaries lost valuable land and were displaced, while others were relegated to migrant labor. 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. 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. She was indeed an African environmental icon as testified by her appointment to the prestigious position of goodwill ambassador for the Congo Basin rainforest ecosystem. 36. The attendant inequalities in the country were analyzed and flagged by the International Labour Organization Report of 1972. 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. After completing her high school education in 1959, at Loreto School, Maathai embarked on another educational journey, this time to the United States. I was learning on the job, she later admitted.58 Her approach to issues was not a fundamental threat to underlying religious, gender, cultural, or other ideological orders, though interests of elites and actors in the authoritarian state took offense. This left the NCWK in a precarious financial situation and effected the severing of relationships with many grassroots organizations. Maathais parents were among the first people to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries (athomi or asomi). 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). But years later A. It also diffused opportunities for deepening an understanding of environment challenges in the country. By Mary Pipher Dr. Pipher is a clinical psychologist and the author, most recently, of "A Life in . In the last three decades it has become the cosmopolitan and partially urbanized County of Nyeri. xcbdg`b`8 $1{0@@"$Q$x;A,u me`b H5 dw In 2004, Maathai was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her contribution to protecting the environment and empowering women in Africa. Upon her return to Kenya in 1966, she dropped her Christian names and retained her African names, Wangari Muta. 42. 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. The couple had their upbringing and initial education in colonial Kenya before going to the United States for university education. Roland Hoksbergen and Lowell M. Ewert (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2002). Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In honor and admiration of the mother and father of Jesus, she took the forenames Mary Josephine, and became popularly known among her colleagues in high school and college as Mary Jo. She was tasked with domestic chores as was expected of young girls in traditional society. Wangari Maathai went to college in the United States, earning degrees from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas (1964) and the University of Pittsburgh (1966). 2003), detailed the history of the organization. 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. Dr. Samuel Kobia, the former general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), November 2018, indicate Wangari participated in the early debates at the WCCs Conference on Faith, Science, and the Future at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1979); and in the Church and Society Committee of the WCC. This affinity with the soil became a great asset when she led tree-planting campaigns. 44. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who dedicated her life to promoting sustainable development, democracy, and human rights. Wangari Maathai. 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. 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. 12. 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 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. in biology, 1964) and at the University of Pittsburgh (M.S., 1966). An interview with Joshua S. Muiru, November 2019. They energized governments, development agencies, civil society organizations and, in particular, womens movements and environmental activists all over the world. 60. This formal education opened unparalleled opportunities in colonial and postcolonial Kenya. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Wangari Maathai: storyteller Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. She also had close relationships with other African regional institutionsfor instance, the African Development Bank (AfDB). She is the recipient of 15 honorary degrees in science, law, humane letters, and public service, and 50+ awards and recognitions . 24. Children like Maathai, who were born near a missionary settlement, and whose parents allowed them to venture into the new teachings by Christian missionaries, had early access to Western education. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Upon entry into St. Cecilias Intermediate Primary School, she embraced Roman Catholic teachings, especially the Legion of Mary. The NCWK nurtured this initiative, enabling it to reach out and empower rural women. Suffice it to say, she mobilized local and international communities to save Uhuru Park from being turned into a concrete jungle. 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. M. P. K. Sorrenson, Land Reform in Kikuyu Country (London: Oxford University Press, 1967). 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. 13. 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. Primary Sources. The continued existence of the Karura Forest in the outskirts of Nairobi city is another hallmark of her courage. 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