Several weeks ago, I awoke in the wee hours of the morning and learned from the BBC about the death of Dr. Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace prize, at the age of 71. Apparently she had been battling ovarian cancer and died following a week in a Nairobi hospital. She received the prize in 2004 – amid some controversy with some claiming that her life’s efforts were not worthy of this prestigious award. As the first woman to be granted a PhD in East Africa (!), she is best known for founding The Green Belt Movement (www.greenbeltmovement.org) and starting a tree planting effort that began in her native Kenya and now encompasses millions of trees (literally) that have been planted in nations across the globe. She was honored for making the connections between women’s livelihoods, development, world peace and the sustainability of communities, and for advocating for tree planting, a simple but lasting solution – re-forestation - to begin to address these critical issues. She also served as a Minister in a previous Kenyan administration. I never had the privilege of meeting Dr. Maathai, but I grieve her loss.
So on Friday when the Nobel Committee announced that the Peace Prize this year would be shared by three women, two of whom are from Liberia, my heart sang. The spirit of Dr. Maathi lives on. The first democratically elected female president of an African nation, 72 year old Harvard educated Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and lesser known, Leymah Gbowee, but a powerful peace activist in her own right are the two African women carrying the baton. Their efforts and the global recognition that is conferred by this award raises awareness of the importance of women’s rights giving visibility to the perseverance of countless women in the world’s poorest continent.
Viva the Women of Africa!
* Photo is courtesy of the NY Times website.
