78 Facts About Wangari Maathai

Wangari Muta Maathai was a Kenyan social, environmental, and political activist who founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights.

Wangari Maathai went on to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to become a Doctor of Philosophy, receiving her PhD from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

Wangari Maathai was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council.

Wangari Maathai died of complications from ovarian cancer on 25 September 2011.

Wangari Maathai was born on 1 April 1940 in the village of Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of the colony of Kenya.

Wangari Maathai's family was Kikuyu, the most populous ethnic group in Kenya, and had lived in the area for several generations.

Around 1943, Wangari Maathai's family relocated to a White-owned farm in the Rift Valley, near the town of Nakuru, where her father had found work.

At the age of 11, Wangari Maathai moved to St Cecilia's Intermediate Primary School, a boarding school at the Mathari Catholic Mission in Nyeri.

Wangari Maathai became one of some 300 Kenyans selected to study in the United States in September 1960.

Wangari Maathai received a scholarship to study at Mount St Scholastica College, in Atchison, Kansas, where she majored in biology, with minors in chemistry and German.

In January 1966, Wangari Maathai received her MSc in biological sciences, and was appointed to a position as research assistant to a professor of zoology at University College of Nairobi.

Wangari Maathai believed this was because of gender and tribal bias.

Wangari Maathai rented a small shop in the city and established a general store, at which her sisters worked.

Wangari Maathai studied both at Giessen and the University of Munich.

Wangari Maathai completed her dissertation on the development and differentiation of gonads in bovines.

Wangari Maathai continued to teach at Nairobi, becoming a senior lecturer in anatomy in 1975, chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy in 1976, and associate professor in 1977.

Wangari Maathai was the first woman in Nairobi appointed to any of these positions.

Wangari Maathai was a member of the Nairobi branch of the Kenya Red Cross Society, becoming its director in 1973.

Wangari Maathai was a member of the Kenya Association of University Women.

Wangari Maathai joined the National Council of Women of Kenya.

In 1974, Wangari Maathai's family expanded to include her third child, son Muta.

Wangari Maathai's husband campaigned again for a seat in Parliament, hoping to represent the Lang'ata constituency, and won.

In 1977, Maathai spoke to the NCWK concerning her attendance at Habitat I She proposed further tree planting, which the council supported.

Wangari Maathai encouraged the women of Kenya to plant tree nurseries throughout the country, searching nearby forests for seeds to grow trees native to the area.

Wangari Maathai agreed to pay the women a small stipend for each seedling which was later planted elsewhere.

Wangari Maathai was said to have believed that Wangari was "too strong-minded for a woman" and that he was "unable to control her".

Shortly after the trial, in an interview with Viva magazine, Wangari Maathai referred to the judge as either incompetent or corrupt.

Wangari Maathai was found guilty and sentenced to six months in jail.

Wangari Maathai chose to add an extra "a" instead of changing her name.

The divorce had been costly, and with lawyers' fees and the loss of her husband's income, Wangari Maathai found it difficult to provide for herself and their children on her university wages.

Wangari Maathai chose to send them to her ex-husband and take the job.

In 1979, shortly after the divorce, Wangari Maathai ran for the position of chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya, an umbrella organisation consisting of many women's organisations in the country.

Wangari Maathai lost this election by three votes, but was overwhelmingly chosen to be the vice-chairman of the organisation.

When it became apparent that Wangari Maathai was going to win the election, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake, a member organisation which represented a majority of Kenya's rural women and whose leader was close to Arap Moi, withdrew from the NCWK.

Wangari Maathai continued to be reelected to serve as chairman of the organization every year until she retired from the position in 1987.

In 1982, the Parliamentary seat representing her home region of Nyeri was open, and Wangari Maathai decided to campaign for the seat.

Wangari Maathai believed this to be false and illegal, and brought the matter to court.

Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 in response to the environmental concerns raised by rural Kenyan women.

Wangari Maathai moved into a small home she had purchased years before, and focused on the NCWK before becoming employed again.

Wangari Maathai escorted delegates to see nurseries and plant trees.

Wangari Maathai met Peggy Snyder, the head of UNIFEM, and Helvi Sipila, the first woman appointed a UN assistant secretary general.

The attention the movement received in the media led to Wangari Maathai's being honored with numerous awards.

Therefore, in 1987, Wangari Maathai stepped down as chairperson of the NCWK and focused on the newly separate non-governmental organisation.

In October 1989, Wangari Maathai learned of a plan to construct the 60-storey Kenya Times Media Trust Complex in Uhuru Park.

Wangari Maathai wrote to Sir John Johnson, the British high commissioner in Nairobi, urging him to intervene with Robert Maxwell, a major shareholder in the project, equating the construction of a tower in Uhuru Park to such construction in Hyde Park or Central Park and maintaining that it could not be tolerated.

On 8 November 1989, Parliament expressed outrage at Wangari Maathai's actions, complaining of her letters to foreign organisations and calling the Green Belt Movement a bogus organisation and its members "a bunch of divorcees".

Wangari Maathai was forced by the government to vacate her office, and the Green Belt Movement was moved into her home.

Later that day, Wangari Maathai received a warning that one of their members had been arrested.

Wangari Maathai was besieged for three days before police cut through the bars she had installed on her windows, came in, and arrested her.

The protest there continued, with Wangari Maathai contributing frequently, until early 1993 when the prisoners were finally released.

The Kenyan government accused Wangari Maathai of inciting women and encouraging them to strip at Freedom Corner, urging that she not be allowed to speak at the summit.

Wangari Maathai believed they were incited by the government, who had warned of stark consequences to multi-party democracy.

Wangari Maathai travelled with friends and the press to areas of violence in order to encourage them to cease fighting.

The conflict areas were labeled as "no go zones", and in February 1993 the president claimed that Wangari Maathai had masterminded a distribution of leaflets inciting Kikuyus to attack Kalenjins.

When Wangari Maathai responded that she could not attend as she did not believe the government would allow her to leave the country and she was in hiding, Gorbachev pressured the government of Kenya to allow her to travel freely.

Wangari Maathai was again recognized internationally, and she flew to Scotland to receive the Edinburgh Medal in April 1993.

Wangari Maathai's intentions were widely questioned in the press; many believed she should simply stick to running the Green Belt Movement and stay out of politics.

Wangari Maathai protested this through letters to the government and the press.

Wangari Maathai went with the Green Belt Movement to Karura Forest, planting trees and protesting the destruction of the forest.

On 7 July 2001, shortly after planting trees at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park in Nairobi to commemorate Saba Saba Day, Wangari Maathai was again arrested.

In January 2002, Wangari Maathai returned to teaching as the Dorothy McCluskey Visiting Fellow for Conservation at the Yale University's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Wangari Maathai remained there until June 2002, teaching a course on sustainable development focused on the work of the Green Belt Movement.

Wangari Maathai founded the Mazingira Green Party of Kenya in 2003 to allow candidates to run on a platform of conservation as embodied by the Green Belt Movement.

Wangari Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya.

Wangari Maathai has served as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their situation.

On 28 March 2005, Wangari Maathai was elected the first president of the African Union's Economic, Social and Cultural Council and was appointed a goodwill ambassador for an initiative aimed at protecting the Congo Basin Forest Ecosystem.

Wangari Maathai supported the International Year of Deserts and Desertification program.

Wangari Maathai was one of the founders of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with sister Nobel Peace laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

Wangari Maathai's father was educated in America through the same program as Maathai.

Wangari Maathai was defeated in the Party of National Unity's primary elections for its parliamentary candidates in November 2007 and chose to instead run as the candidate of a smaller party.

Wangari Maathai was defeated in the December 2007 parliamentary election.

Wangari Maathai called for a recount of votes in the presidential election in her constituency, saying that both sides should feel the outcome was fair and that there were indications of fraud.

In June 2009, Wangari Maathai was named as one of PeaceByPeace.

Until her death in 2011, Wangari Maathai served on the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa.

Wangari Maathai died on 25 September 2011 of complications arising from ovarian cancer while receiving treatment at a Nairobi hospital.

Wangari Maathai's remains were cremated and buried at the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies in Nairobi.

Wangari Maathai Gardens is 2.7 acre community garden project for local residents which consists of over 55 garden allotments.

The Wangari Maathai Gardens consist of a community garden, youth garden, outdoor classroom, pollinator hive and public fruit tree orchard, vegetable garden, herb garden, berry garden and strawberry patch.