The Woman Who Planted Back

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai was a girl from rural Kenya, raised under British colonial rule. She fetched water, tended goats, and watched as the forests around her village were cut down. She grew up, went to school, and became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a PhD. But she never forgot the trees.

On the surface, planting trees seems harmless, even wholesome. But in 1970s-1990s Kenya, under President Daniel arap Moi’s authoritarian regime, Maathai’s Green Belt Movement threaten the government’s control on several key levels: 1. Tree = Land = Power. Maathai wasn’t just planting trees, she was reclaiming land and challenging elite control of Kenya’s natural resources. 2. Women’s Empowerment = Political Threat. The movement was built on mobilizing poor rural women - encouraging them to plant trees, grow food, and demand transparency. This kind of grassroots organizing was perceived as subversive in a country where dissent was tightly controlled.

She wasn’t trying to start a revolution - she just wanted to replant what had been destroyed. It was simple. It was powerful. And it was dangerous.

As her movement grew, so did government hostility. She was beaten, arrested, and vilified in the press. But she didn’t stop.

Maathai wasn’t born an icon. She was a girl with dirt on her hands who refused to let her country be stripped bare. In today’s era of climate controversy, and political suppression, her story is more than inspiration - it’s instruction:

Change begins at the roots - and so does resistance.

“We need to promote development that does not destroy our environment.”

If you’re interested in learning more about Wangari Maathai, here are some resources:

• Unbowed: A Memoir, by Wangari Maathai

• Replenishing the Earth: Spiritual Values for Healing Ourselves and the World, by Wangari Maathai

• Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees, by Franck Prévôt

• The Greenbelt Movement website

Ⓒ August 2025. Beki Lantos. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the author.