Wangari Maathai

Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai died on Sunday in Nairobi after a long battle with cancer. She was 71.Maathai was not just an environmentalist or a politician, she was a strong woman who struggled to bring changes in the world.  Maathai's struggle to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, Her fights against Moi's (who was the President at that time) attempt to build a 60 storey building at Uhuru Park, her repeated failed attempts in trying to introduce the Green Belt Movement, her struggle to bring up her children when her husband left her in hard times and her fight with her own self--beleiving that she will be succesful one day holds Maathai close to our hearts.[caption id="attachment_92488" align="alignleft" width="380" caption="Image courtesy: Reuters"][/caption]In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”Wangari Maathai's husband ran for Parliament in the 1970s, and she became involved in organizing work for the poor which eventually became a national grass-roots organization, providing work and improving the environment at the same time. The project made significant headway against Kenya's deforestation.Maathai founded the  Green Belt Movement in Kenya in 1977, assisting women in planting more than 20 million trees on their farms and on schools and church compounds. The movement established a Pan African Green Belt Network and exposed over 40 individuals from other African countries to the approach.In December 2002, Professor Maathai was elected to parliament with an overwhelming 98% of the vote. She was subsequently appointed by the president, as Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife in Kenya's ninth parliament. Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005.In Maathai's autobiography 'Unbowed: A memoir' published in 2006,  she builds the connection between her attempts at environmental conservation, good governance and her fight with the society.In June 2009, Maathai was named as one of PeaceByPeace.com's first peace heroes.