Wangari Maathai

by Carol Hohle

Wangari Maathai is a hero of mine, as she is for thousands and thousands of others!  Her life stands as a testimony to the difference one life can make.  She passed away yesterday and it is so heart-warming to read all the tributes pouring out onto the information highway.

One video clip I especially treasure is of her telling the story about being a hummingbird.  It’s an excerpt from the documentary movie, The Dirt.  May you enjoy it and join Wangari in being the best hummingbird you can be!

One of my favorite passages from her autobiography, Unbowed:

What I have learned over the years is that we must be patient, persistent, and committed.  When we are planting trees sometimes people will say to me, “I don’t want to plant this tree, because it will not grow fast enough.”  I have to keep reminding them that the trees they are cutting today were not planted by them, but by those who came before.  So they must plant the trees that will benefit communities in the future.  I remind them that like a seedling, with sun, good soil, and abundant rain, the roots of our future will bury themselves in the ground and a canopy of hope will reach into the sky.  (p. 289)