QUEEN MAATHAI👸🏾👑
Do you know the story of Wangari Muta Maathai aka the Planter of Trees & Dreams?

Wangari Muta Maathai was born with Boss levels of Audacity so high that it propelled her to became the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Queen Wangari was born in 1940 to parents with little money but excess levels of ambition for activism. Her activism started from a dream when she lived in rural Kenya as a child. She would dream about running next to a stream that no longer existed, and that dream inspired her to create an environmental grassroots organization that transformed the lives of many women and children.

Before Wangari started her movement she became the first woman in East & Central Africa to earn a Ph.D. in 1971. #bossmoves

After learning about the struggles Kenyan women were suffering from because their streams were drying up and their food supplies were decreasing, Wangari knew she had to make moves to effect change.

Wangari saw the solution clearly… she needed to mobilize people. So she did what any boss would do. She founded a movement, the Greenbelt Movement to be exact. The movements main focus was poverty reduction and environmental conservation through the planting of trees. Because trees equal life.

The tree roots bound the soil, halting erosion and retained groundwater following rains. This in turn replenished streams, and the trees provide food, fodder, and fuel — maintaining the livelihoods of communities.

Through the Green Belt Movement, she mobilized thousands of women and men to plant tens of millions of trees throughout Kenya and Africa. The movement was so successful that in 2004 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to environmental sustainability, democracy, and peace.

Wangari stated, “In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.”

Wangari passed away in 2011, but her reforestation efforts continue to impact the lives of women and children throughout the continent of Africa. Wangari’s drive to accomplish such heroic feats in the face of such powerful opposition will continue to inspire the hearts of young girls & boys who to dare to dream, defy the status quo, and embrace ADVENTURE!⁣⁣