What impact does Wangari Maathai have in her country?

Answer 1

Wangari Maathai has chalked up many firsts in her 70 years. There was the time she became the first Kenyan woman to earn a doctorate; the time she planted her first tree nursery, and the time she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. There was also the first time she was beaten up; the first time she was jailed; the first time she was disqualified from running for political office, and the first time her environmental work was dismissed as that of a "mad divorcee".

These tribulations might be behind her now, and organisations around the world might be lauding her work promoting the greening of Africa, but Maathai is not one to rest on her laurels. She is still busy lobbying politicians across the continent to pay more than lip service to environmental causes, and is establishing an institute at the University of Nairobi to propagate the community development ideas that have earned her international acclaim.