Dec 8, 20202 min read

Women who has changed the world. Wangari Maathai.⁠

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⎰ I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me.

All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet. It must be this voice that is telling me to do something, and I am sure it's the same voice that is speaking to everybody on this planet - at least everybody who seems to be concerned about the fate of the world, the fate of this planet⎱.

Wangari Muta Maathai (1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan environmental and social activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize of 2004. She went on to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to become a Doctor of Philosophy, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

As a beneficiary of the Kennedy Airlift she studied in the United States, earning a Bachelor's Degree at Mount St. Scholastica (Benedictine College) and a Master's Degree at the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to become a Doctor of Philosophy, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

In 1977, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "converting the Kenyan ecological debate into mass action for reforestation". Maathai was an elected member of the[[National Assembly of Kenya|Parliament of Kenya] and between January 2003 and November 2005 served as assistant minister for environment and natural resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki. She was an Honorary Councillor of the World Future Council.