To Wangari, for Wangari, the patron of environment

A Wangari Maathai Statue in the US. In June this year, the Sisters of Mount St Scholastica Monastery and the Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, US, erected a statue in honour of Prof Maathai to mark the 50th reunion of Mount St Scholastica College’s Class of 1964. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • The world-renowned environmentalist died on September 25, 2011, seven years after she became the first African woman to win the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.
  • In July 2013, Ms Salisbury, Wanjira and Benedictine College president Steve Minnis walked the St Scholastica Plaza area at the entrance of the campus and discussed the placement of the statues of Wangari and St Scholastica, after whom Wangari’s alma mater is named.
  • Other than the sugar maple tree next to which Wangari’s statue stands, the sculptor did not forget the Nobel laureate’s inseparable bond with the environment.

Is national honour earned or claimed as a constitutional right? The question was debated in court last week when a woman named Mary Kavuvi Mutuku sued the Parliamentary Honours Advisory Committee for removing the name of Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama from this year’s presidential (Jamhuri Day) honours list.

The answer came from Justice Weldon Korir, who, in dismissing Mutuku’s case on Thursday, argued that being honoured was not a constitutional right.

The perplexing case reignited my resolve to conclude a long-pending, heart-warming story of the trans-border approbation of Nobel laureate Wangari Muta Maathai, who continues to win honours three years after she succumbed to ovarian cancer.

The world-renowned environmentalist died on September 25, 2011, seven years after she became the first African woman to win the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

PROPER WANGARI'S IMAGE

In June this year, the Sisters of Mount St Scholastica Monastery and the Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, US, erected a statue in honour of Prof Maathai to mark the 50th reunion of Mount St Scholastica College’s Class of 1964.

According to Wangari’s classmate, Florence Conrad Salisbury, from whom DN2 has been gleaning information on this rare honour of an African woman’s statue on a Western university’s grounds, 75 per cent of Wangari’s living classmates attended the reunion, including two from Japan, and one (Agatha Wangeci Kahara, see sidebar) from Kenya.

Ms Kahara gave a keynote speech at the statue’s unveiling.

“(Wangari’s daughter) Wanjira, some sisters at the Mount and I worked with the sculptor, Bill Hopen of Sutton, West Virginia, for over a year to help create the proper image of Wangari,” Ms Salisbury told DN2 in an email interview.

AN HONOURED FIGURE

In July 2013, Ms Salisbury, Wanjira and Benedictine College president Steve Minnis walked the St Scholastica Plaza area at the entrance of the campus and discussed the placement of the statues of Wangari and St Scholastica, after whom Wangari’s alma mater is named.

But, although both statues were to be completed and unveiled by June this year, the sculptor’s time only allowed casting of one statue.

“He chose to have Wangari’s done first so it would be there for her classmates at the time of their reunion,” Ms Salisbury says of the five-foot-10-inch sculpture.

ENVIRONMENT BOND
Although the sculptor never met Wangari, DN2 learned that Bill Hopen used numerous photographs of her from the Internet, the Green Belt Movement, and from Wanjira (her daughter) to form the statue,” says Ms Salisbury.

Donations to cover the cost of the two statues were collected by the college and the sisters.

The statue of St Scholastica was unveiled just two months ago, on October 17, on the campus of the Benedictine College, which swallowed, so to speak, Wangari’s alma mater, Mount St Scholastica College.

SCHOLASTICA'S DISCIPLE

According to Ms Salisbury, the statue is in a prominent area, known as the Scholastica Plaza, “just to the right as one enters the campus main entrance”.

She adds: “Wangari’s statue now stands in its permanent location near the sugar maple tree planted by her Class of 1964 classmates in the spring of 2005, honouring her as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

She looks to the southwest towards the new, eight-foot statue of St Scholastica which sits on a high pedestal, thus signifying Wangari looking towards Scholastica as Scholastica’s disciple.”

Other than the sugar maple tree next to which Wangari’s statue stands, the sculptor did not forget the Nobel laureate’s inseparable bond with the environment.

A REMINDING PRESENCE

In the statue, Ms Salisbury says, “there is a bronze tree with leaves behind Wangari, remembering her work with the Green Belt Movement (as does the sapling in a bag that she holds in her hand in the statue).

In the tree there is a dove (St Scholastica’s symbol), thus St Scholastica looking over Wangari and guiding her in her life and in her work.”

The Benedictine College in Atchison was founded in 1971 — seven years after Wangari’s graduation from Mt Scholastica. It is a merger of two colleges — Mt St Scholastica (for women) and St Benedict’s College (for men). The co-ed college, which hosts Wangari’s statue, sits on the bluffs of the Missouri River on what was formerly the St Benedict’s College campus.

According to Ms Salisbury, “Scholastica Plaza was created to always have a reminding presence on the campus of the sisters of Mount St Scholastica Monastery and of the alumnae of St Scholastica College”, who, to Kenyans’ pride, include their very own Wangari.

AN AMAZING SMILE
But, how does Ms Salisbury remember Wangari Maathai? Known simply as Mary Jo during her college days, Wangari, who was a beneficiary of the Tom Mboya-John F Kennedy airlifts of the early 1960s, elicits tender memories in her former classmate.

“Wangari always had sparkle. She always had that amazing smile that could fill the whole room when she entered. No matter who you were, when you were in her presence you felt close to her, felt that she was your friend, felt she was interested in you and wanted the best for you.”

Stuff upon which true honours are built and food for thought for those who would be national heroes.