Wangari Maathai is an inspirational role model for the future, keep reading to learn more about her journey in a review of her memoir – Unbowed.
“I remind them that like a seedling, with sun, good soil, and abundant rain, the roots of our future will bury themselves in the ground and a canopy of hope will reach into the sky.” – Unbowed
When I first learned about Wangari Maathai as a young, idealistic, American student, I thought it must be an amazing thing to be the first African woman environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Winning the Prize is a high honor, one only bestowed on people truly making a difference in the world, but at that stage in my life, I was still naive to the real challenges many people face in life. After (finally) reading Maathai’s story, I am amazed by her courage and her perseverance in the face of adversity. She was the perfect candidate for this honor because her humility and persistence make her an admirable role model.
As a woman, whose traditional options for a profession included teacher, nurse, or mother, Maathai blazed her own path and created a meaningful role for herself. Even if this meant becoming a scapegoat for the men in power. She was not afraid to get her hands dirty, literally and figuratively, in the soil and fabric from which we grow, and she planted many little seedlings of hope.
“Nothing is more beautiful than cultivating the land at dusk. At that time of day in the central highlands the air and the soil are cool, the sun is going down, the sunlight is golden against the ridges and the green of trees, and there is usually a breeze.” – Unbowed
As she herself describes it, her life was a string of being in the right places at the right time and some of the wrong places at the wrong time. She was lucky to have the schooling opportunities she had in her early life in the 1950’s in the then British colony of Kenya, and to be chosen for a scholarship to study for university degrees in the United States. Maathai did not stop there, she continued to grow as a woman, as a professional and as an academic – she was the first woman in east Africa to obtain a PhD.
She did not uphold stereotypes of gender roles or of power politics, which probably cost her her marriage, but she always lived true to herself as all women should. Maathai never expected or asked for greatness, only fairness/righteousness, and all her appeals were patient and just. She knew that hard work must be done so it was high time to get on with it if any differences are to be made, and she organized groups of women in different communities to each do their small parts.
“Not surprisingly, the women were increasingly resourceful. They used the technology they had available and they used it well.” – Unbowed
Many people believe if you are poor or uneducated you must somehow be lacking something essential in order to succeed. What the wealthy and educated don’t realize is that what these people lack often lies outside their control – resources and access to those resources – not within their spirit.
The colonialist propaganda set out to trivialize traditional lifestyles but the most you can do is to do the best you can with what you have. These women were not foresters, they did not have degrees but that did not mean they could not plant trees for the future. Always questions those in power who like to wangle facts and do not believe everything you are told. There are alternative and positive solutions around every corner if we do not limit ourselves to accepting the status quo. We can choose to create a better future for our children.
Can you think of any one in your life who is brave enough to stand up for the values in the face of adversity? Leave a comment below.
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FURTHER READING
Articles featuring Wangari Maathai
