Students to Hold Memorial for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

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Professor Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt Movement, was also the first woman of East Africa to obtain a doctorate.

The OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology, the Green Village Foundation, the African Student Organization, the OMNI UA, the Student Sustainability Council and several other organizations will hold a local memorial for Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai at 7 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6 beside the fountain outside the Arkansas Student Union.

"Wangari Maathai was a great model for us all because she labored to serve humanity with courage," says Philomena Tanui, of Kenya, a UA graduate student and one of the memorial organizers. "When we take courage to do the small things wecan, then collectively, the change we need in the world will be accomplished,” says Tanui.

Professor Maathai, who was Kenyan, received her doctorate in 1971 and was the first woman in East and Central Africa to receive a PhD, chair a university department and be appointed as a professor. Early on in her career she spoke with rural women of Kenya through her work with the National Council of Women of Kenya. They told her of their struggles with having adequate firewood, clean water and food for themselves and their families. In response Professor Maathai decided that planting trees would improve all of these issues by giving women something they could do to improve their own circumstances, but also by conserving water, top soil, providing firewood and improving agricultural yields. This led to the establishment of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, which eventually spread to many areas in the African continent. Because of the work of the Green Belt Movement almost 50 million trees have been planted.

This memorial is both to allow those who admired her to mourn and celebrate the extraordinary inspiration her life has been to the world," said Joanna Pollock, of the Green Village Foundation and a UA graduate student. "Professor Maathai taught us with her wisdom, courage and actions that ecological and social justices are one in the same,” said Pollock.

Maathai also advocated for the education of women, the care of HIV/AIDS orphans, the democratic process, the promotion of peace and actions to mitigate climate change. The Green Belt Movement established the foundation for rooted action to promote social, economic and environmental justice. Professor Wangari Maathai faced a lot of opposition during her life from the Kenyan government especially during the Moi Regime, and from those who believed a woman should not be leading a social and ecological justice movement.