Maathai

Wangari Muta Mary Jo Maathai (1 April 1940 – 25 September 2011) was a Kenyan environmentalist, political activist and the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.

Wangari Maathai devoted her life to protecting our planet and serving its people. As an academic, an activist, and the founder of the Green Belt Movement, Wangari believed that saving our planet and changing our world went hand in hand. Through her work with the Green Belt movement, Wangari provided thousands of women with job training and opportunities and was responsible for the planting of millions of trees in her native Kenya. Wangari died of ovarian cancer in 2011, but not before leaving a substantial mark on the world she loved so much.