Geek of the Week: Wangari Maathai

We've finally reached Uagadou, the famed wizarding school of Africa! Our Geek of the Week is Wangari Maathai, an environmental geek hailing from Kenya.

Wangari Muta Maathai was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya, in 1940. Maathai is known for many firsts. She was the first Eastern African woman to earn a doctorate, writing her dissertation on bovine gonads. She was the first woman in Nairobi to become an associate professor of veterinary anatomy. Maathai became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, the first woman to hold that position also.

Wangari Maathai was motivated to make the world a better place for everyone. She advocated for women and coworkers, and she worked for numerous environmental organizations. As part of this environmental work, she founded the Green Belt Movement, an organization that supports and encourages communities to conserve the environment and improve livelihoods.  Its particular focus is empowering women to sustainably care for their environment to ensure access to resources and clean water.

For this work,  Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.  The Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace and Environmental Studies was founded in her honor to carry on her work by moving knowledge about sustainable use of resources from the lab to the people in villages and rural communities all over Africa.

In addition to her academic and environmental work, Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as assistant minister for Environment and Natural Resources.

Because of her pioneering achievements and her work to empower people while preserving our natural environment Wangari Maathai truly embodies the Ravenclaw traits of pursuing and sharing knowledge.

Learn more about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai

http://www.greenbeltmovement.org/who-we-are

Got a geek you'd like us to feature? Nominate them here.