Wangari Maathai's Legacy lives on; USIU shares in her mission

(I found this story in my archives and i thought i should share Naomi's story with you.)

Introduction

Naomi Mutua doesn’t click you as prominent, but that shows how far Wangari Maathai went in the hearts of many to plant the love for trees. She is a regular woman who works hard like any other Kenyan to earn a living. She happens to be the face behind ‘The Karura Forest Tree Planting’ that took place on the 1^st of October, 2011.

“Following the demise of Wangari Maathai, I thought it only sensible to get people to plant trees, and I thought that if we could do this together, even better.” She writes in her ‘akenyangirl.wordpress.com’ website. She was self-motivated and brought together many willing organizations like Resolution Health who pledged 50,000 shillings into the project. She also worked hand in hand with Safaricom and PesaPal for the donation process into the specific accounts.

She chose Karura Forest for logical reasons and was working towards raising 280,000 shillings that will help cater for the caring and sustenance of the trees.  She is willing to go out of her way to periodically visit the site and take progress reports. She is driven by the Motainnai principle that Wangari Maathai advocated: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Over the last three decades, one of the late Prof. Maathai’s rallying pleas to the world was to prevent soil erosion that occurs along river beds, leading to the brown –colored rivers that we can tell all so many stories about currently.

This time round 1,100 happy trees were planted in the forest, some which were planted by the 20 USIU students and 2 staffs who showed up at the project between 10am and 12pm. Before then, as part of the USIU’s social responsibility  and in remembrance of her life’s commitment to the environment, the students, staff and faculty led by the VC Prof. Freida Brown, planted 160 indigenous trees on Friday September 30, 2011 at USIU’s southern boundary (right by the Ruaka river).

The four tree varieties planted are; the Croton megalocarpus, the Uganda Greenheart (WarburgiaUgadensis), the Red Stinkwood (PrunusAfricanus) and the African Wild Olive (Olea Africana).

Besides that a condolence book was placed outside the administration block to allow the students pass their last respects to ‘the queen of trees’. It is not news that Wangari Maathai will forever be celebrated and respected for her fearless fight with the former President Moi’s government that left her a lot of pain. She saw to it that trees were respected in that mostly Kenyans and even the world at large want to associate with her.

Africa and the rest of the world lost a strong, passionate environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate - Professor Wangari Maathai. Ovarian cancer may her claimed Prof. Wangari Maathai, but not her profound legacy that has left many with the passion for preserving the environment to the best of their ability.