by Yelena Mandenberg
On November 20 at 10:20 am in the MAC rotunda new faculty member Adelina Apena spoke to a large audience about the movement of Nigerian-born feminist leader Wangari Maathai.
The conference was called “Global Women’s Leadership: Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement.”
Madeline Sorel’s students exhibited their art posters they created after reading this years KCC Reads book, Unbowed.
It seems strange to those of us lucky enough to be living here in the United States that women are still viewed as property and still thought to be nothing more than housewives.
In many countries however, this is still a big problem. Wangari Maathai faced this problem herself. In the 1980’s, her husband, Mwangi Mathai, divorced her because he thought she was too strong-minded and impossible to control. In the courtroom, Wangari Maathai spoke back to the judge and so, was ordered to drop her husband’s name.
In protest, Wangari Maathai just added an extra “a” instead.
During the regime of President Daniel arab Moi, she was put in prison more than once for speaking out against the government.
She was violently attacked more than once for voicing her opinions on putting an end to government corruption and asking for an election with more than one party running.
In 1989, Maathai single-handedly saved Nairobi’s Uhuru Park by stopping the construction of a 60-story Kenya Times Media Trust business complex.
It is no wonder Professor Apena speaks as passionately as she does about Maathai and her work, comparing her to women like “Eleanor Roosevelt.”
“Women like Rosa Parks… women who are considered significant…” said Apena, adding, “think of a woman who has many paths, many dimensions.”
Maathai is an inspiration for many women, especially those that live in countries that take away women’s rights.
The program that she founded, the Green Belt Movement, a grassroots environmental non-governmental organization, has now planted over 40 million trees across Kenya to prevent soil erosion.
She has come to be affectionately called “Tree Woman” or “The Tree Mother of Africa.”
Since then, she has been increasingly active on both environmental and women’s issues. She was also the former chairperson of the National Council of Women of Kenya (Maendeleo Ya Wanawake).
President Peruggi also spoke at the conference.
She spoke of her own experiences and work with the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, that also does “wonderful things all across Africa.”
She also encouraged both students and faculty to participate in this year’s KCC Reads activities.
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