Wangari
Matthai faced enormous obstacles in life, not the least of which was that in Kenyan
tradition women are seen as the submissive property of men. Nevertheless, she
stubbornly pursued an education and eventually became a professor of veterinary
medicine. Soon after that, she entered a traditional marriage and had three children.
But because of her growing activism, her husband called her "too educated, too
strong, too successful, too stubborn, and too hard to control" and divorced her.
The President of Kenya labeled her "a mad woman who is a threat to the order and
security of the country" and encouraged the Kenyan people "to stamp out trouble-makers."
Beaten, threatened with death, and in hiding during much of her long years of
activism for human rights, women's rights, and environmentalism, Ms. Matthai has
been courageously steadfast. Among her many accomplishments is the founding of
the Green Belt Movement, an organization that concentrates on environmental conservation
and community development by planting trees to protect the soil. It was through
this organization that she became known throughout the world, and in 2004, she
became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize "for aiding democracy
and attempting to save Africa's forests."
Bio
© Larry Auld
