In this regard, Nyeri was the epicenter of the freedom struggle. 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. Wangari Maathai, The Green Belt Movement: Sharing the Approach and the Experience (New York: Lantern Books, 2003); and Maathai, The Challenge for Africa. Professor Wangari Muta Maathai was born to Muta Njugi and his wife Wanjiru Muta in Nyeri, Kenya on 1st April 1940. 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. Forest cover was also decimated as large-scale farms were subdivided and select forest reserves were hived off for settlement purposes. 48. Her interactions with other womenher mother, teachers, and grassroots womenalso had a great impact on her work and commitment. 50. Kibicho, God and Revelation, 72168. As a result of the movements activism, similar initiatives were begun in other African countries, including Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Zimbabwe. 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. 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. 34. 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. These changes started with the alienation of large tracts of land for white settlement at the onset of British colonialism. The most important dates and events in the current school year can be found in our calendar. Maathais exposure to other Kenyan ethnic communities broadened when she moved onto a settlers farm in the Nakuru area where her father was employed. It's teamwork. She could then be addressed as Miss Muta. Events around this election occasioned unsolicited media publicity for Maathai. An interview with Ms. Lillian W. Mwaura, former chairperson of NCWK, 1987 to 1996, November 15, 2018. She is the recipient of 15 honorary degrees in science, law, humane letters, and public service, and 50+ awards and recognitions . 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. It thus became a critical constituency for experimenting with new ideas. Historian G. Muriuki refers to this early mixing of ethnic groups in The History of the Kikuyu, 15001900 (Nairobi, Kenya: Oxford University Press, 1974). Maathai, Unbowed, 7. Wangari Maathai. 21. With the reduced role of the state and increased indebtedness of African countries, new spaces for other development actors emerged. 3. Instead the state officials preferred to create divisions among the GBM leadership rather than banish it. The accompanying population explosion also meant more people needed to be fed, educated, and their various needs provided for. 25. They energized governments, development agencies, civil society organizations and, in particular, womens movements and environmental activists all over the world. 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. Agricultural cooperatives were established in rural areas to ensure that quality agricultural commodities were produced and marketed. 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 parents were among the first people to interact with and gain some education from the missionaries (athomi or asomi). 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. 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. 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. While Maathai was cloistered in Catholic schools, the country was undergoing the turbulence of Mau Mau resistance against British colonialism. Her husband insisted on her adopting his surname. Our school calendar. stream The degree was conferred by the President of Kenya, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, then Chancellor of University College, Nairobi. Omissions? The continued existence of the Karura Forest in the outskirts of Nairobi city is another hallmark of her courage. Interviews held on various dates in 2018 and 2019 with Prof. Wanjiku Kabira, Rev. Her family was of Kikuyu origin, and her father was polygamous. 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. The genius of Maathai and other women leaders was to turn this elite organization into a vehicle for the empowerment of rural women. Published March 28, 2023. 17. Wangari Maathai: storyteller Two years later, she shifted along with her parents to a farm near Rift Valley where her father had found work. of the University of Nairobi, March 11, 2005. It also gave her increased international exposure which provided some degree of political protection and a platform to highlight issues related to the environment. As a young girl growing up in Kenya, Wangari was surrounded by trees. Primary Sources. 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. 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. This was a political maneuver intended to weaken the chairperson role and a calculated strategy to undermine umbrella organizations by the withdrawal of members. She was baptized Miriam at the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Ihithe, to become Miriam Wangari. 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. Wangari Muta Maathai Anchor was a prominent Kenyan environmental and political activist. Their approach is wonderfully illustrated in a documentary Taking Roots: The vision of Wangari Maathai. 1. Consequently, Professor Maathais ingenuity and persistence were widely recognized and honored, and earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. To begin with, Maathai had to contest for a position in the NCWK leadership. Initially, the NCWK was an organization led by urban elite women and intended to give a voice to womens organizations. Two years into their marriage, she attained her PhD, which accelerated her career in academia. By mobilizing women to plant and care for trees, Maathai changed the thinking and practices of conserving the environment at a time when dominant global thinking on the environment and womens role in society was grappling for transformation. A number of factors and circumstances seem to have contributed to the emergence, rise, and success of the GBM as a development actor. By then she had acquired world fame which transcended her position as a member of parliament and as an assistant minister of the environment and natural resourcesa position she was appointed to in January 2003. She observed: Working for justice and freedom is often a lonely and dispirited business. Her life was a series of firsts: the first woman to gain a Ph.D. in East and Central Africa; the first female chair of a department at the University of Nairobi; and the first African woman and the first environmentalist to receive the . Often their phone calls, faxes, lettersor, later, e-mailsor simply their presence made the difference at a crucial moment. 39. Environmental Leader, Political Activist. Hence the dynamics of local and international forces coalesced in the work of the GBM. When Maathai decided to vie for an elected position, she underestimated the determination of the state to frustrate and contain her ambitions. Member organizations were usually part of a countrywide network that resonated with concerns of grassroots women. This formal education opened unparalleled opportunities in colonial and postcolonial Kenya. Maathai interacted on a daily basis with women who were decision-makers and leaders. She benefited mainly from the tide of change which was sweeping the country, not because she had articulated her own political ideas.42. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. With hindsight this move was misguided and diversionary. I am sure that this honour will now usher in a new beginning with new sensibilities to match. She was given a scholarship for PhD studies and research in Kenya and Germany. 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! % 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. The first indigenous woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Professor Maathai started school in 1948 at Ihithe Primary School. 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. Her impact and influence had extended well beyond her constituency in Tetu, Kenya, and far beyond Africa. It diverted her critical energies from the issues that were dear to the GBM. In addition to her conservation work, Maathai was also an advocate for human rights, AIDS prevention, and womens issues, and she frequently represented these concerns at meetings of the United Nations General Assembly. Once again finding her options limited, she went on to pursue a doctorate from the University of Giessen in Germany. Such was the world into which Maathai was born in 1940 and subsequently raised. This left the NCWK in a precarious financial situation and effected the severing of relationships with many grassroots organizations. The Early Years and Education "It was during the mbura ya njahi - the season of long rains, in 1940 that Wangari Maathai was born. 47. 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. Unbowed: A Memoir . This source greatly helped my understanding of the In 1997 and 2002, Maathai ventured into electoral politics once more. 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. 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. However, some people who had early contact with colonialists and missionaries lost valuable land and were displaced, while others were relegated to migrant labor. 2. In 1966, Maathai returned to Kenya confident and with high hopes for making a contribution to the newly independent country. Wangari Maathai. 16. 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. Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist who dedicated her life to promoting sustainable development, democracy, and human rights. Maathai and other writers have described at length the methodologies and approaches utilized by the GBM to reach out to rural women, building awareness regarding the needs of the environment and the adoption of relevant innovations.31 Such were the modalities and characteristics of the movement, resulting in a culture of tree planting that was nurtured widely among Kenyans. This may have shaped her strong ecumenical stance evident in later years. She is survived by two daughters, Wanjira and Muta, and a son, Waweru, as well as her granddaughter, Ruth. 59. 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. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai. The impact of changes in rural Kenya was complicated by emerging corruption among Kenyas elite. 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. 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. 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. Further information about these conferences can be found in the Links to Digital Materials section. Updates? The Green Belt Movement, Wangari Maathai: Key Speeches and Articles, November 11, 2020. Colonialism in Kenya was a major force for social differentiation. When I finally learned to read and write, I never stopped, because I could read, I could write and I could rub.9 After a period of attending primary school, it was decided she should join her cousin at St. Cecilias Intermediate Primary School, a boarding school operated by the Mathari Catholic Mission and Consolata Missionary Sisters. In Gikuyu, they were known as Athomi. Ndegwa, Walking in Kenyatta Struggles, 6264, refers to the divisions this category of people brought into in the society. Maathai is internationally renowned for her unrelenting efforts in advocating democracy, environmental conservation and human rights. 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. Diversified international funding helped build a unique and solid international constituency that sustained the GBM financially and politically. Roland Hoksbergen and Lowell M. Ewert (Monrovia, CA: World Vision International, 2002). 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. Dr. Wangar Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental and political activist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. As elites, they were keen to build careers, and acquire wealth and status in the emerging society. 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. It also diffused opportunities for deepening an understanding of environment challenges in the country. She had already won many awards and was eventually awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. 26. 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 . In reality, her environmental activism was part of a holistic approach to empowering women, advocating for democracy, and protecting the earth. Wangari Muta was born on April 1, 1940, in Ihithe, Nyeri Province, Kenya during British colonial rule. The socioeconomic impact of policies of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund on the environment and poverty in Africa should be noted at a time when the thinking within UN circles was questioning the prevailing development orthodoxy. An interview with Joshua S. Muiru, November 2019. Most people think of Ms. Maathai as an environmentalist, planting trees. 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