Green warrior and Nobel laureate Maathai is no more

Maathai,one of the most famous and widely respected women on the continent,wore many hats — environmentalist,feminist,politician,anti-corruption campaigner,human rights advocate,protester and head of the Green Belt Movement she founded. She was as comfortable in the gritty streets of Nairobi’s slums or the muddy hillsides of central Kenya as she was hobnobbing with heads of state. In 2004,she won the Nobel Peace Prize,with the Nobel committee citing “her contribution to sustainable development,democracy and peace”. It was a moment of immense pride in Kenya and across Africa.

Maathai toured the world,speaking out against environmental degradation and poverty — which she believed were intimately connected — but never lost focus on her native Kenya. She served as a parliamentarian and assistant minister for several years,and in 2008,after being pushed out of government,she was tear-gassed by Kenyan police during a protest against the excesses of Kenya’s well-entrenched political class.

“Wangari Maathai was known to speak truth to power,” said John Githongo,an anti-corruption campaigner in Kenya who was forced into exile for several years for his own outspoken views. “She blazed a trail in whatever she did,whether it was in the environment,politics,whatever.”

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in 1940 in Nyeri,Kenya,a mid-sized town in the foothills of Mount Kenya. She won a scholarship to study biology in the US,and went on to obtain a doctorate in veterinary anatomy. She formed the Green Belt Movement in 1977 which planted trees across Kenya to fight erosion and create fuel and jobs for women.

During the 1980s,the Kenyan government labeled the Green Belt Movement “subversive”. Not long afterward,during a protest,Maathai was beaten unconscious by police.

Home life wasn’t easy either. Her husband,Mwangi,divorced her,saying she was too strong-minded for a woman. When she lost her divorce case and criticized the judge,she was thrown in jail.

Her battle with cancer was a surprise to many in Nairobi. She is survived by three children,Waweru,Wanjira and Muta,and a granddaughter Ruth Wangari.”