KNOW WANGARI MAATHAI

Wangari Maathai was an environmentalist and polital activitist based in Kenya. She was born in 1^st April 1940 at Ihithe village in Nyeri District and died on 25th September 2011 after suffering from ovaries cancer for so long.

When her death occurs it was like a candle that stops to shine in a wrong time and left people in dark without knowing what to do especial in the environmental matters.

This is because she was a woman with courage without fear of anything when comes to fight for the right, peace democracy and conserving environment.

Maathai completed  her primary education at St Cecilia Intermediate primary school in the year 1956,then joined to Loreta High School and graduates in 1959.

During her life Maathai was in frontiline in Kenya to make  sure everyone in her country  live in a suitable better environment to support his or her life.

She participate in social, political and environmental issues whereby in the early 1970s, Maathai established The Green Belt Movement under the auspices of the National Council of Women of Kenya.

The Green Belt Movement is an indigenous environmental non-governmental organization based in Nairobi Kenya focusing on environmental conservation by involving in planting trees, community development and capacity building for women so as to let them know their civil, economic and political rights.

The idea of introducing the NGOs was to combat deforestation, restore their main source of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil erosion.
Maathai did a lot to empower women under the umbrella of Green belt movement by provide them skills on  eco-tourism and how to develop themselves economically.


Success she made under the project
Despite of Kenya government calling the Green Belt Movement as a bogus organization and its member, Maathai did not fed up and until now over 40 million trees have been planted since 1977.
30,000 women trained in forestry, food processing, bee-keeping, and other trades that help them earn more income while preserving their lands and resources.
All Kenyan have been motivated and organized to both prevent further environmental destruction and restore that which has been damaged.

Awards
Although the government of Kenya did not recorginize and appreciates her work Maathai was an icon internationally by receiving various awards.
In 2004, Wangari  Maathai  becoming the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the Green Belt Movement,promoting democracy and peace.

In 1991 she received the Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco and the Hunger Project’s Africa Prize for Leadership in London.

Through www.Africanews.com , Here are some of quotation Wangari  Maathai made during her life time about environment

“The environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. You cannot sustain the economy if you don’t take care of the environment because we know that the resources that we use whether it is oil, energy, land … all of these are the basis in which development happens. And development is what we say generates a good economy and puts money in our pockets. If we cannot sustain the environment, we can’t not sustain ourselves.”.

“It is a bit sad that we have a government in this country that is actually overseeing the destruction of the forest…there comes a time when humanity is called upon to shift to a new level of consciousness… You raise your consciousness to a level where u feel that you must do the right thing. We see governments mistreating its citizens to the fullest.. who is going to question when the law keeper breaks the law?”

“We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a hummingbird, I’ll do the best I can.”

On talking about the achievent of The Green Belt revolution the speech she delivered in Oslo, 10 December 2004,  Maathai sadi "[We have planted over 30 million trees that provide fuel, food, shelter, and income to support their children's education and household needs. The activity also creates employment and improves soils and watersheds. Through their involvement, women gain some degree of power over their lives, especially their social and economic position and relevance in the family."

Through all these quotes you can find how Wangari  Maathai was commited herself for Kenyan and  environment conservation so as to create better life .