Wangari Maathai's Like a Tree, Unbowed Essay/Summary

Wangari Maathai was an activist, Environmental Activist, Women’s Right Activist and Government Official. She won the Nobel Peace Prize for her “holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women’s rights in particular.”

Maathai was born on April 1 1940 in Nyeri, Kenya. She grew up in a small village in a British colony. She came from a farming family. Her mother was given a very little power and her father, a tenant farmer, was considered the head of the family. She was sent to school by her older brother as she was bright. She studied in Catholic missionary school and continued at the Loreto Girl’s High School. She won the scholarship in 1960 to go to the college in the USA. She earned a bachelor’s degree in 1964 and after two years she completed her master’s degree in the University of Pittsburgh. After she returned, she studied veterinary anatomy at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. She was the first woman in East Africa to earn a doctorate degree in 1971 and joined the first women chair in a university in 1976. 

Maathai got married a politician, in 1970 and had three children and left her husband in mid 1980s. She was criticized by other women as she refused to be submissive. Being a woman with confidence, outspoken and uprightness, Maathai joined the National Council of Women of Kenya an NGO whose focus was to educate women while advocating for their rights. She was against to Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi’s brutal regime.  She got 98 percent votes in the National Assembly in the first free and democratic elections after 25 years.  She was appointed Deputy Minister of the Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife.

The Chipko movement started in 1973 in India. Maathai launched the Green Belt Movement to reforest in Africa while helping the nation’s women in 1977. This movement is responsible for the planting of more than 30 million trees in Kenya and providing roughly 30,000 women with new skills and opportunities. This movement is a social movement in Kenya whereas the Chipko is a social movement in India. In 1987 the Chipko movement was awarded the Right Livelihood Award. By 1986 a Pan African Green Belt Movement was established in other countries. An international chapter was also established by Maathai to work outside the continent. She challenged the government on its development plans and its handling of the country’s land. While she was fighting for the nation and the rights of women she was beaten and arrested by numerous times by the dictator Daniel arap Moi. She also prevented the construction of a skyscraper which is called ‘Freedom Corner’ in Nairobi’s Uhuru Park in 1989. Her campaign drew international attention and the project was eventually dropped. 

Maathai received numerous awards including the Goldman Environmental Prize, the Right Livelihood Award and the United Nation’s Africa Prize for Leadership for her lifelong dedication to environmental and human rights. She received the Edinburgh Medal in 1992 and in 1997, she was elected by Earth Times as one of 100 persons in the world. In 2004 she was honoured with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. The award was given to individuals or organizations that work to promote peace, resolve conflict or upload human rights by the Nobel Committee.

Maathai expresses her feelings on her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize means for Africa that it is a signal of hope. She says that this Prize will inspire them as a government and as a people to set a good example for Africa and the rest of the world. She gives a message for Africans that the solutions to their problems lie within them.

Maathai, a leader beyond the Green Belt Movement, at first encourages people to grow more trees later she plays a role in fighting corruption, fighting for the cancellation of African government’s foreign debts and campaigned against land grabbing. In 1992 she was attacked by police during hunger strike. Seven years later she and her group were attacked by real estate developers. Incessant driving force of Maathai proved her dedicated personality.

Though there are dire warnings and escalating concern over the state of our planet, many people feel out of touch with the natural world. Maathai has spent decades working with the Green Belt Movement to help women in rural Kenya. Maathai wants to impart the feeling of empowerment to everyone and believes that the key lies in traditional spirituals values such as love for the environment, self-betterment, gratitude and respect and a commitment to service. 

Maathai shared her amazing life story with the world in the 2006 memoir ‘Unbowed.’ Her book offers a message of hope and inspiration through one woman’s achievement on behalf of women, the environment and democracy in Kenya. In her final years, she battled ovarian cancer. She died on September 25, 2011 at the age of 71. She is survived by her three children: Waweru, Wanjira and Muta.

Maathai’s joy-filled, straight forward manner and practical approach set a wonderful example for many, helping them to acquire new confidence and inspiration. Being a captivating story teller, she had an awesome capacity for telling stories to capture a dilemma and showed how to move forward. Like a spreading Acacia, she and the Green Belt Movement have nurtured thousands of new actors with a thirst for environmental and social justice.