Wanjira Mathai: In the footsteps of her mother Wangari Maathai

Environmentalist Wangari Maathai, who died 10 years ago today, continues to win admirers worldwide for her conservation efforts.

Besides a statue of her at the American university where she got her undergraduate degree (unveiled in 2014), a road named after her in Nairobi (2016), a garden in Washington (2012), a statue of her in Nyeri (construction started in 2020) and a mural of her at the Westerman Hall of Science and Engineering (2019), among others, she is now being studied in schools in India.

Prof Maathai’s daughter, Wanjira Mathai, told the Saturday Nation that she was recently elated to address students from different schools in India about her mother.

“Little primary school kids are studying about the Green Belt Movement and Wangari Maathai. That was really special and I was very moved by that,” said Ms Wanjira.

She also noted that the Green Belt Movement – an organisation founded by Prof Maathai in 1977 and through which she gained global recognition for her fights to combat environment degradation – has been receiving letters from people in the US, Latin America and other regions, adulating her mother.

“I’m really proud that her legacy lives on in so many different places,” she said, adding that the Wangari Maathai Institute at the University of Nairobi is also one of her great sources of pride.

Wanjira Mathai

Earlier this year, Prof Maathai’s name was among those of 15 deceased women selected by a jury in Brussels, Belgium, for votes to be cast in the renaming of a road in the city – former Belgian actress Annie Cordy got the most votes.

While Prof Maathai’s name seems to be glowing internationally, it has a fairly lukewarm reception in Kenya.

“I think people do take their heroes and heroines for granted. We still do it today; I think we don’t celebrate our heroes and heroines enough, and it’s probably an unfortunate thing we do,” said Ms Wanjira.

Honorary awards

Prof Maathai died aged 71 on September 25, 2011 following complications caused by ovarian cancer. At the time of her death, according to her biography on the Green Belt Movement website, she had received 15 honorary degrees from institutions in Japan, Norway and US, among others. She also had 50 honorary awards to her name given by various entities across the globe. The biggest of them all being the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. She was the first woman from Africa to win the prize.

Prof Maathai was a mother of three – Waweru, Wanjira and Muta Mathai. Ms Wanjira has taken up environmental matters more passionately than the other two, and she is often perceived to be her mother’s heir. It is a fact she did not want to acknowledge.

So, does Ms Wanjira feel overwhelmed to be the one carrying on her mother’s legacy?

“I don’t consider myself the heir at all,” she said. “I see myself as one of the many people who are carrying on her legacy, and I consider that a very big privilege actually, because I had the privilege of working with her on a daily basis for so many years and grew to understand and love how and why she did what she did, in a way that I almost feel a sense of responsibility to carry on the work that she started.”

“But I actually consider myself to be very lucky and not burdened at all, in fact very lucky to be able to draw on those experiences; to be able to enjoy the memories and the lessons that I learnt. So, I often tell people that I am more basking in her light, not so much burdened by the legacy,” she added.

Her two brothers, she said, are equally involved in cementing their mother’s legacy. Muta, the younger brother, is keenly involved in the activities of the Green Belt Movement, while Waweru, the elder brother, sits on the board of the Wangari Maathai Foundation.

“He is also very involved and keen to see that legacy continue. He’s a lawyer, so he’s very much into the details of ensuring that we do things right,” said Ms Wanjira.

Wangari Maathai Foundation

So, will there be any events to mark a decade since the demise of Prof Maathai?

“There won’t be any events because, obviously, with Covid we can’t gather. We don’t want to bring people together,” Ms Wanjira said. “But we will be launching a campaign in her honour, through the Wangari Maathai Foundation. The campaign is #EveryTreeCounts. It will be around raising awareness about the importance of every tree in Nairobi and seeing if we can push for stronger protection for trees in cities.”

Ms Wanjira is the president and regional director for Africa at the World Resources Institute, an organisation that addresses challenges like food shortages, degradation of nature, climate and evolution of cities, among others. She is also the chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation.

“The foundation is about inspiring the next generation of leaders to be courageous, persistent and patient as they pursue their careers,” she said.

She is also a full member of the Green Belt Movement, and in her position, she is one of those who pick board members.

We sought her opinion on the expressway under construction in Nairobi – she thinks it is not the solution Kenya needs.

“It’s unfortunate that in a country that has 90 per cent of its citizens not driving we would prioritise an expressway over public transportation and improved mobility for pedestrians and cyclists,” said Ms Wanjira.

Decongesting highways

“Research shows that more highways don’t decongest. The decongestion of highways is about management of traffic and not about adding more highways. You add more highways, you just get more traffic. And it’s also unfortunate that it will be inaccessible for a majority of Kenyans,” she added.

On how best Kenyans can honour Prof Maathai on the 10th anniversary of her death, Ms Wanjira says: “We have Karura Forest, Uhuru Park and many green spaces that we can thank her for. I hope we can expand that legacy and create even more spaces in different counties; in different places across this country.”

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