THE WOMAN WITH A VISION FOR A GREEN WORLD

Table of Contents

WANGARĨ MAATHAI

In the rolling hills of rural Kenya, a young girl once watched streams dry up and forests disappear, and she saw the effects that had on her community and her people; that girl grew up to become Wangari Maathai, a woman who proved that one person with courage, vision, and a handful of seeds can literally change the face of a continent and inspire the entire world.

Born in 1940 in Nyeri, Kenya, Wangari became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD. She could have stayed in the comfort of academia; instead, she looked at her homeland, deforested, eroded, women walking farther every day for firewood, and she asked a simple question, "Why don't we plant trees?"

Her vision for a green environment inspired her to establish the Green Belt Movement in 1977. She started small by paying poor rural women a few shillings to plant seedlings in their own communities. The idea was revolutionary in its simplicity; trees would restore soil, hold water, provide fuel and food, and most importantly, give women income, dignity, and a voice.

Governments and powerful interests saw her as a threat. She was beaten, arrested, tear-gassed, and called "a threat to national security." She stood trial, lost her job, faced death threats, yet every time she was knocked down, she got up and kept planting. In 2004 she became the first African woman ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Today, the Green Belt Movement have planted more than fifty-one million trees. Wangari helped nearly a million women gain skills, income, and confidence. She linked environmental destruction to poverty, oppression, conflicts, and has shown that healing the land heals societies. She once said, "I always felt that our work was not simply about planting trees. It was about inspiring people to take charge of their environment, the system that governed them, their lives, and their future."

Through her story, we understand that change does not begin with governments or billionaires, it begins with ordinary people deciding they will no longer accept a broken world. She taught us that a single tree can start a forest; that one woman's courage can move a nation; that the smallest acts of planting a seed, speaking truth, refusing to look away, can ripple across decades and continents.

Even after she is gone, the Green Belt Movement continues. Communities across Africa and beyond are still planting, still organizing, still believing that they can shape their own destiny. One small act, can be the turning point for a greater future, we must begin with our passion for success, growth, and a better environment for generations coming behind. Plant a tree, speak up for what is right, lift someone else, refuse to be silent, the world is waiting for the change you will bring.

365 men who changed the world.

Kamikun John, Author 366 days of wisdom.