Tribute


Prof. Maathai and the American first family as they plant a tree


ested with whatever lies below the waist.” It took months of protests and petitions before the international funders backed off and the building plans were abandoned and the park was saved. But with every success came pain. Her personal safety and freedom came under threat. In the interview she spoke of how alone she felt watching people she knew cross the street when they saw her, lest others think that they were associated with her. About 10 years later, Prof. Maathai


“She planted trees not for her generation, but for the descendants yet to be born ...her influence will continue to be felt long after the lips of man speak her name.”


public struggle. Although I knew her jour- ney, from watching her on TV, reading her book and reading articles about her, none of it captured the struggle and humour that lived in her eyes. As she spoke, I recalled my own memories of her formed by various news clips over the years. It seemed that her every humiliation, challenge and victory was lived in public. Her divorce proceed- ings were a front page headline, as was her subsequent arrest when she challenged the court on the grounds that the reasons presented for the divorce were fraudulent. Her triumphs although mostly bitter sweet were similarly recorded and celebrated. Among them, the two that stand out in Kenya’s history are the battle for Uhuru Park and Karura Forest. In 1989, Prof. Maathai filed a case


against the ruling party KANU and Presi- dent Moi. Te injunction was to stop the


98 | NEW AFRICAN WOMAN | AUTUMN 2011


building of a skyscraper in Uhuru Park, a public park in the middle of Nairobi City Centre. Prof. Maathai and her supporters felt it would be remiss for an environmen- tal activist group like Greenbelt, which supported planting trees, not to speak out when public, green spaces were being torn down to put up concrete structures. When the case was thrown out of court Prof. Maathai decided to use civil disobedience. She staged demonstrations, held press conferences and wrote petitions to local and foreign bodies including the British High Commission asking how they would react if a building was put in Hyde Park. During that time, the president convened a Parliamentary proceeding in which they referred to her as a “mad-woman” and a “divorcee”. She retorted that, “I want to engage them but I want to engage their anatomy above the neck. I wasn’t inter-


fought private investors and politicians who had started to encroach on the 250- acre Karura forest, located on the outskirts of Nairobi. Prof. Maathai became aware of the problem once the fences had been put up, roads excavated and private secu- rity guards placed on the perimeter of the area that had been grabbed. When she and Greenbelt supporters went to plant trees, they were attacked. She later went to report the incident to the police, who were unin- terested, and when asked to sign her name, she touched her wound and signed the complaint in blood. Like before, the inves- tors backed down, and the land was saved. At the end of my day with Prof.


Maathai, I asked her to tell us a children’s story. She recited two. One was about a little bluebird that realised the forest was burning and set out to save it. Because of the bird’s size, she was only able to transport a drop of water at a time. All the while, the rest of the animals watched and laughed at the absurdity of the situ- ation. Te elephant called out and asked what was the bird doing, she would never stop the fire. Te bird answered: “Even the smallest change makes a difference”. Many of us have sat and watched our


forests burn; our countries disintegrate as a result of corruption and greed. We have sat quietly and waited for others to move to the forefront, while judging their actions from the safety of an apathetic crowd. Prof. Maathai stepped forward. She spoke out. She was ridiculed, hurt, brutalised, and yet she did not run or stop or waiver. Instead she stood her ground and challenged what she felt was wrong. Most of all, she loved. She planted trees not for her generation, but for the descendants yet to be born. For that reason, her influence will continue to be felt long aſter the lips of man speak her name. Today, I urge you to join me and plant a tree in remembrance of a true hero and the work she did to save the environment.


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