Wangari Maathai Journey

Maathai played outside in the forest with tadpoles and many other gifts of nature. From a very young age, it is evident that she was destined to do more with nature than play around in it. The journey of Wangari Maathai began on the day she was born, in the countryside of Kenya on April 1st, 1940. She is a child of soil, when a child is born in Kenya it is very special not only to the family, but to nature as well. There is a tradition in Kenya when a child is born, the women would go to their farm and collect fruits and fat lamb to chew up and pass it on to their baby. This creates the idea of introducing you to the land. Growing up Maathai’s father supported the family by working as a tenant farmer. From the early ages of her life, Maathai’s parents knew she had something special to offer to the
Going against societal norms at the time, Maathai was enrolled into a local primary school when she was eight years old. Being the young motivated girl she was, Maathai was an excellent student. In fact, she went on to high school. This goes to show it doesn’t matter where you’re from, your gender or race, if there is a will there is a way. Furthermore, this is just the beginning of a life full of accomplishments. In 1960, she won a scholarship to go to college in the United States. Maathai attended Mount St. Scholastica College in Kansas, and in 1964 she earned her bachelors degree in biology and continued her education at the University of Pittsburgh where she completed her masters. One of her first big achievements was in 1971 when she made history by becoming the first women in East Africa to earn a doctorate degree at the age of 38. She credited her education by holding her first veterinary class at the University of