Biography

Wangari Muta Maathai was born April 1st, 1940 in Ihithe village of Tetu division of Nyeri District, Kenya. She was born into a family, with father Muta Njugi and mother Wanjiru Kibich. Wangari Muta lived with her mother and father until her high school years. After college she became one of the first women in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. She then went on to become the first woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize in the continent of Africa. In 2004 the prize was awarded for her exceptional work for taking “a holistic approach to sustainable development that embrace[d] democracy, human rights and women's rights in particular”(The Nobel Peace Prize committee). She led and founded the international “Green Belt” movement. It was a program that encouraged women to plant trees, and paid tribes people to keep them alive, thus improving Africa’s environment, along with increasing food supplies and cash crops. It helped people understand the connection between environmental degradation and a multitude of other issues. She is well known for “[being] a strong voice speaking for the best forces in Africa to promote peace and good living conditions on that continent.” (Frängsmyr)
As young girl, Maathai lived with her parents and soon attended a primary boarding school where she became fluent in English. She then converted to Catholicism taking the name Mary Josephine. In 1956, she completed her studies in the boarding school; she was ranked first in her class and was accepted admission to Loreto Girl High School, which at the time was the only Catholic girls’ secondary school in Kenya. Wangari moved on to bigger and better things. After graduating from Loreto Girls in 1959, Kenyan politicians such as Tom Mboya began looking into options to create education for exceptional students possible in the Western nations, like America. John F. Kennedy who was a United States Senator at the time, agreed to fund such a program through the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation, which initiated Airlift Africa. In September of 1960, Maathai became one of some three hundred Kenyans who were chosen to study abroad at American universities.

This is how Wangari Maathai came to be the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. Maathai obtained a degree in Biological Sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas in 1964 which is now known as Benedictine College. Afterwards, she went on to earn a Master of Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. Determined to become an international intellectual, Wangari Maathai pursued to earn a doctorate degree in Germany as well as the University of Nairobi, obtaining a PhD in 1971. She then went on to teach veterinary anatomy in University of Nairobi. This particular level of education was unheard of and quite, frankly, impossible for most African women. She soon after became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor in 1976 and 1977 respectively. In both cases, she was the first woman to attain those positions in these fields.
Wangari Maathai was also active in the National Council of Women of Kenya in 1976 through 1987 and was its chairman from 1981 until 1987. It was while she served in the National Council of Women that she introduced the idea of planting trees in 1976. The idea continued to develop it into a broad-based, grassroots organization whose main focus was the planting of trees with women groups in order to conserve the environment and improve their quality of life. Through the Green Belt Movement “she and other women have planted over 30 million trees” (UNICEF) on their farms and on schools and church compounds. In 1986, the Green Belt Movement, headed by Maathai, established a Pan African Green Belt Network and has introduced over 40 individuals from other African countries to this approach. Some of these individuals have established similar tree planting initiatives in their own countries or they use some of the Green Belt Movement methods to improve their efforts. So far some countries have successfully launched such initiatives in Africa in countries such as Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, etc. “In September 1998, she launched a campaign known as The Jubilee 2000 Coalition. She has embarked on many new challenges in her efforts to improve her home country, and the world at large; all the while, playing a leading global role as a co-chair of the Jubilee 2000 Africa Campaign and as an immensely influential and well-know humanitarian, which seeks cancellation of the unplayable backlog debts of the poor countries in Africa by the year 2000. Her campaign against land grabbing and rapacious allocation of forests land has caught the limelight in the recent past” (Nahar).

Wangari Maathai is “internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation” (About). She has addressed the UN on several occasions and spoke on behalf of women at special sessions of the General Assembly for the five-year review of the earth summit. She served on the commission for Global Governance and Commission on the Future. She and the Green Belt Movement have received numerous awards, most notably The 2004 Nobel Peace Prize because “in the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground” (Wangari Maathai). Others include “The Sophie Prize in 2004, The Petra Kelly Prize for Environment in 2004, The Conservation Scientist Award in 2004, J. Sterling Morton Award in 2004 , WANGO Environment Award in 2003, Outstanding Vision and Commitment Award in 2002, Excellence Award from the Kenyan Community Abroad in 2001, Golden Ark Award 1994, Juliet Hollister Award 2001, Jane Adams Leadership Award in 1993, Edinburgh Medal in 1993, The Hunger Project's Africa Prize for Leadership in 1991, Goldman Environmental Prize in 1991, the Woman of the World in 1989, Windstar Award for the Environment in 1988, Better World Society Award in 1986, Right Livelihood Award in 1984 and the Woman of the Year Award in 1983”(Nobelprize.org).
“Professor Maathai was also listed on UNEP's Global 500 Hall of Fame and named one of the 100 heroines of the world. In June 1997, Wangari was elected by Earth Times as one of 100 persons in the world who have made a difference in the environmental arena. Professor Maathai has also received honorary doctoral degrees from several institutions around the world: William's College, MA, USA in 1990, Hobart & William Smith Colleges in 1994, University of Norway in 1997 and Yale University in 2004” (Frängsmyr).
These are merely a few of the reasons we selected Wangari. She was a woman we found inspirational for she believes “‘…we can work together for a better world with men and women of goodwill, those who radiate the intrinsic goodness of humankind.’” (Maathai). Her achievements reinforce the idea that one person can make a huge difference in the lives of many. She is determination and perseverance personified, and is without a doubt, the very epitome of what making a difference is all about. Conclusively, Wangari Muta Maathai is a strong woman and a role model for many, and we are proud to have learned about her and her accomplishments, as well as the impact she has had on the world today.