Rest in peace, Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)

We have lost another brilliant, visionary African feminist thinker, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, a leader who fused the needs of local women with feminism, civil rights, and environmental sustainability. I am so sad about this loss.

I particularly enjoyed sharing Wangari’s story with my daughter in this wonderful children’s book we read about Wangari that details her childhood in a Kenyan village, her education, and her return to the village to identify the loss of forests, village lands, and her work with other women to re-plant and re-shape the villages, one tree at a time, despite police and government harassment.  Wangari is and always will be our hero.

Details about Wangari’s passing are below. Also, here is a 2004 interview with her daughter Wanjira after Wangari was awarded the peace prize, and here is a link to the Greenbelt Movement website which Wangari founded.

CNN writes:

World leaders have paid tribute to Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai who passed away while having treatment for ovarian cancer on Monday.  Archbishop Desmond Tutu praised Maathai as a true “visionary African woman” and called her a “leading voice on the continent.”

He said: “Professor Maathai introduced the idea of women planting trees in Kenya to reduce poverty and conserve the environment,” in a statement released via his office.

“At last count, the Green Belt Movement she helped to found had assisted women to plant more than 40 million trees. She understood and acted on the inextricable links between poverty, rights and environmental sustainability. One can but marvel at her foresight and the scope of her success. She was a true African heroine,” the statement continued.

“Our condolences go to Professor Maathai’s family, to the people of Kenya, and to the countless women (and men) across Africa and the world to whom she was an inspiration.”

Story continues here