"Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing..."
Lately, my kids have been re-reading Wangari’s Trees of Peace – the inspiring story of how a woman transformed the environmental movement in Kenya and beyond.
Maathai was a political and environmental activist, who was educated in the US and in Nairobi, Kenya. She was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. In the 1970s, she became chair of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and an associate professor at the University of Nairobi – the first woman to reach these heights within the region. During this time, she founded the incredible Green Belt Movement, an NGO focused on women’s rights and environmental conservation. Through the Green Belt Movement, she has assisted women in planting over 20 million trees on farms, church compounds, and schools. Maathai is particularly known for nurturing this grassroots organization whose main goal is to encourage women’s groups to plant trees – benefitting both the environment and their quality of life. Maathai is internationally recognized for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She was the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace".
Until you dig a hole, you plant a tree, you water it and make it survive, you haven’t done a thing. You are just talking.
Photo Credit: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, under CC BY-SA 2.0
The quote above was from a speech at the Goldman Awards in San Francisco – and it is always a pressing reminder that the hard work of educating Zambia’s scholars is still ahead of us. In the US, we are often focused on fundraising, but the more difficult task is always on the ground – making sure our schools, students and communities thrive and excel. We need to nurture our schools, our students, and our teachers so that our schools can flourish to the best of their abilities. Time to stop talking, and start digging, planting, and nurturing.
-Reshma