27. She was narrowly defeated in the race for the top position, but was consoled by being appointed vice-chairperson, elected by an overwhelming majority. Wangari Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount . 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. 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. Even though some of the teaching at school undermined her cultural identity, the warmth and encouragement from the Catholic nuns and the stimulus of learning and appreciating the sciences had a lasting impact. In 2004, Maathai was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her contribution to protecting the environment and empowering women in Africa. endobj Aid agencies distrusted state actors and channeled more resources to nonstate actors.56. That the GBM withstood and survived harassment from the government of Kenya and its security apparatuses was a testimony to the strength and capacity of these networks. 36. 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. An interview with Ms. Lillian W. Mwaura, former chairperson of NCWK, 1987 to 1996, November 15, 2018. The GBM was launched under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya (NCWK), an umbrella organization which brought grassroots womens organizations together for the advancement of women. In 1979, when she vied for the position of chairperson, she encountered ethnic and political intrigues, and personal innuendos, citing her as a divorced and educated woman. 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. When you do it alone you run the risk that when you are no longer there nobody else will do it. Maathai was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica College (now Benedictine College; B.S. 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. In 1947, she returned to Ihithe, for lack of educational opportunities at the farm. Unbowed: A Memoir . Wangari Maathai. Modern farming methods were introduced to small-scale farmers through the provision of extension services and credit facilities. She sat for the Kenya Primary Examination in 1951 and scored Grade One. 34. Her marriage brought another challenge in terms of what she could be called. The first attempt in 1982 was blocked; in the 1997 attempt, she failed to secure a seat. 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. The experience of discrimination at the Department of Zoology led Maathai to look for opportunities elsewhere. Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who dedicated her life to promoting sustainable development, democracy, and human rights. 41. 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. 24. This, she did at high personal risk to her and to her friends. 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. Use these quotes in discussing Wangari Maathai's life and how her views and activities changed over the course of her lifetime. Published March 28, 2023. M. P. K. Sorrenson, Land Reform in Kikuyu Country (London: Oxford University Press, 1967). Both families migrated from the Nyeri District to the Rift Valley province in search of employment and land to cultivate. The daughter of a peasant farmer and the third . The diversity of funding sources was remarkable in winning international support and admirers including young people (for instance, Danish school children), celebrities, NGOs, and bilateral, private foundations and UN agencies.57 This array of support attracted international interest, recognition, and awards, and cushioned the GBM and Maathai against drastic measures that were taken at that time against other civil society organizations and individuals in the country. She was brought up, taught, encouraged, and mentored by womenher mother, village women, and teachers (nuns in particular). 26 0 obj 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. As the first African woman to . 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. 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. It's teamwork. Her position at the university also opened opportunities to venture into other fields of service and leadership for which she was to become well known in addition to her academic pursuits. Events around this election occasioned unsolicited media publicity for Maathai. Maathai, Wangari. The University of Nairobi, which had denied her a job in 1982, honored her with an honorary doctorate in 2005 and hosts the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies (WMI), which promotes research on land use, peace, and sustainable development. A number of factors and circumstances seem to have contributed to the emergence, rise, and success of the GBM as a development actor. Maendeleo ya Wanawake, an organization for the progress of women, started during the colonial period, was dedicated to support the welfare of African women, but in the postcolonial period became a vehicle for the participation of women in development. Her family was of Kikuyu origin, and her father was polygamous. To begin with, Maathai had to contest for a position in the NCWK leadership. But as painful as it was, it seems to have given Maathai a measure of latitude to pursue her interests and achieve success as an activist. endobj She challenged this in court, but her petition was dismissed. In 2007, the region would explode into postelection violence, something which she had foreseen and tried hard to mitigate by cultivating a culture of peace for almost two decades. In 1997 and 2002, Maathai ventured into electoral politics once more. Maathai had been successful in building a grassroots movement, but she fell into the trap of competitive politics as the best way forward. She was baptized Miriam at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Ihithe, to become Miriam Wangari. She was given a scholarship for PhD studies and research in Kenya and Germany. When they got married, she changed her name to Wangari Mathai, which she initially resisted, but did so on the insistence of her husband. While her father was formally educated, her mother was not. He also discusses the place of indigenous languages in liberation from cultural enslavement in Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (Nairobi, Kenya: Heinemann Educational, 1986). While undertaking her studies, Maathai learned how Christianity practiced in American, European, and African societies blended well with their dominant cultures. He eventually became a member of parliament for a constituency in Nairobi. 61. In her writings, Maathai refers to Maasai influence on her mothers side.3. 26. 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. endobj In many instances she learned by imitating what her mother and other village women were doing. Her achievements were appealing to all ideological shades. 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. Working for the GBM widened her horizons and provided a canvas upon which Maathai painted her broad vision for sustainable development, peace, democracy, gender equality, and grassroots empowerment in Kenya and Africa. 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. I stand before you and the world humbled by this recognition and uplifted by the honour of being the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate. This was a joint program between the University of Giessen and University College, Nairobi. Maathais exposure to other Kenyan ethnic communities broadened when she moved onto a settlers farm in the Nakuru area where her father was employed. AfDB, Eminent Speakers Program, Wangari Maathai Underscores Importance of Good Governance in Poverty Reduction Efforts, October 27, 2010. Wangari Maathai. 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. She is survived by two daughters, Wanjira and Muta, and a son, Waweru, as well as her granddaughter, Ruth. 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. in biology, 1964) and at the University of Pittsburgh (M.S., 1966). She could then be addressed as Miss Muta. 39. In many areas of Kenya, the tree cover was restored. 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. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. These agrarian reforms were adopted and intensified by the postcolonial government, leading to the increased degradation of rural areas. 54. 27 0 obj stream The separation between the NCWK and the GBM that occurred in 1987 as a result of political pressure from the Moi regime, proved another milestone in the development of the identity and stature of Maathai as an environmental activist. Instead the state officials preferred to create divisions among the GBM leadership rather than banish it. Primary Sources. 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. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. 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. Though such encounters in colonial Kenya were often limited, Maathai strived to base these relationships on equality, freedom, dignity, learning, and mobilization in common pursuit of sustainable development. 11. Her family had established the precedent of educating girls, just as an older uncle had done.6 Together with her mother, Maathai left a settlers farm in Nakuru, where her father was working, to return to Ihithe village in the Nyeri districtone of the rural areas designated for Africans, termed native reserves,so that she could attend school. The genius of Maathai and other women leaders was to turn this elite organization into a vehicle for the empowerment of rural women. Each of these fields of her engagement merit detailed analysis as was done with the GBM. The most important dates and events in the current school year can be found in our calendar. The first indigenous woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai started school in 1948 at Ihithe Primary School. Her entire life was thus characterized by learning, critical observations, engagement, interactions with people, and advocacy for change. Addressing enormously complex challenges of deforestation and global climate change, the movement partnered with poor rural women who were encouraged, and paid a small stipend, to plant millions of trees to slow . Professor Wangari Muta Maathai was born to Muta Njugi and his wife Wanjiru Muta in Nyeri, Kenya on 1st April 1940. She had already won many awards and was eventually awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Hence, she decided to correct the confusion by adopting her full name, Mary Josephine Wangari Muta. In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth. Thus she became Wangari Muta Maathai, asserting her African identity and freedom to be known and called by the names she wanted (Maathai, Unbowed, 147). But as land consolidation and registration went on in central Kenya, it was men who were registered as owners, although it was women who cultivated the land. Primary Sources. 1 Her homeland was established by the British as the East Africa Protectorate in 1895 and then became the Kenya Colony in 1920; the independent Republic of Kenya emerged in 1964 after gaining internal self-government the prior year. Their divorce was highly publicized. 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. 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. 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. With Maathais guidance, the program went from a series of local womens activities into a national and international phenomenon. When she tried to withdraw her resignation letter from the University of Nairobi, she was bluntly told that the position had been taken by another person! 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. Accounts from friends indicate that both parents were devoted to the well-being and education of their children. This left the NCWK in a precarious financial situation and effected the severing of relationships with many grassroots organizations. Murungi, In the Mud of Politics, 196199. (Nairobi, Kenya: Leadership Institute, 2011); and Wangari Maathai, Unbowed: One Womans Story (London: Arrow Books, 2006). Discussions held with Rev. In 1955, people were moved to concentration villages to pacify the region and to sever access to vital supply lines and community support that had supported the resistance fighters.18 It was in the context of the Mau Mau freedom struggle that Maathai received her education at St. Cecilia Intermediate Primary School and later Loreto High School, Limuru. The intention was to pacify central Kenya and create a favorable apolitical climate for consolidating the interests of settlers and the colonial administration. Wangari Maathai was able to achieve a large degree of educational and professional successes despite her rural beginnings in a fiercely patriarchal society and within a male . Her time in academia gave her opportunities to engage in voluntary community activities that were not strictly academic, although regarded as part of university community service. Initially, the NCWK was an organization led by urban elite women and intended to give a voice to womens organizations. endstream endstream Her husband insisted on her adopting his surname. 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. Her resignation was accepted, but she was disqualified to stand as a candidate allegedly because she had not been registered as a voter. 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. 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. 23 0 obj 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. 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. She was allocated a mini garden by her mother to cultivate and to learn practically how to care for plants. Among these were the rapid transformation that took place in the countryside, especially in central Kenya where Maathai grew up, and the impact this transformation had on the environment, which in turn shaped the concerns that the GBM raised. Wangari Maathai was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Kenyan politician and environmental activist Wangari Maathai was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2004 for her involvement in "sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women's rights in particular." She became the first Black African woman to achieve such an honor. Maathai interacted on a daily basis with women who were decision-makers and leaders. Higher Education Maathai was born in polygamous family. Maathais academic studies at Mount St. Scholastica College prepared her for entry into graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh in 1964, where she completed a masters degree in biology before returning to Kenya early1966. The Third Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture, Johannesburg, South Africa, July 19, 2005; Sustained Development, Democracy, and Peace in Africa, Gwangju, South Korea, June 16, 2006; and the Keynote Address at the Second World Congress of Agroforestry, Nairobi, Kenya, August 24, 2009. The degree was conferred by the President of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, then Chancellor of University College, Nairobi. She straddled academic activities and civic engagement as a member of the NCWK and as a board member of the Environment Liaison Centre.45 As a highly educated woman, she gained visibility and much appreciation. 22 0 obj Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. When cash crops were introduced, again it was men who were registered in the cooperatives and received payments after deliveries of tea and coffee. 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. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, Wangari Maathai spent her life fighting for and promoting democracy and peace, sustainable development, and the empowerment of women. 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. Updates? 50. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. This policy was implemented from the mid-1950s and accelerated in the 60s and 70s by the independent government of Kenya. Later, when she was denied the opportunity to participate in elective politics, she invested her energies into the development of the GBM which became her signature lifetime achievement, widely honored on numerous occasions for its pioneer tree-planting ventures and the related empowerment of women. 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. Wangari Muta was born on April 1, 1940, in Ihithe, Nyeri Province, Kenya during British colonial rule. Maathais parents were among the first people to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries (athomi or asomi). Such strengths also helped to secure funding for the GBM and to ensure, in some measure, Maathais personal security. Cyrus G. Mutiso, Kenya: Politics Policy and Society (Nairobi, Kenya: East African Literature Bureau, 1975), 145, described the concept Asomi as Africans who early on acquired missionary education and differentiated themselves from those who had no Western education. The NCWK nurtured this initiative, enabling it to reach out and empower rural women. 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. 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. Colonialism in Kenya was a major force for social differentiation. 55. Under colonialism, indigenous Kenyan cultures were besieged. Their approach is wonderfully illustrated in a documentary Taking Roots: The vision of Wangari Maathai. 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. 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. 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. In 1966, Maathai returned to Kenya confident and with high hopes for making a contribution to the newly independent country. The prevailing cultural attitudes toward Western education and especially education for girls were hostile. 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. 12. Primary Sources Overview . 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. Wangari recognised rural women's primary interest and role in maintaining a productive landscape, for assuring food needs as well as making daily household necessities - water and fuel - easier to collect. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Wangari's Words to Live By . 2003), detailed the history of the organization. Childhood & Early Life. Diversified international funding helped build a unique and solid international constituency that sustained the GBM financially and politically. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. 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. 16. 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. 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. 60. Women were in control and were making the vital decisions at home, in the village, and at school. 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. On this farm she interacted with ordinary people from other ethnic communities as well as foreigners. 15. In the forests of Aberdares and Mount Kenya, guerilla warfare was intense. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a single article for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice). And his wife Wanjiru Muta in Nyeri, Kenya on 1st April 1940 with guidance... Given a scholarship for PhD studies and research in Kenya and Germany from other ethnic communities when! Detailed analysis as was done with the GBM leadership rather than banish it media publicity for Maathai M.S. 1966! 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