Wangari Maathai Unbowed:A Memoir - Book Report/Review Example

According to the Kikuyu tradition, God lived on Mount Kenya and thus the villagers duly respected the mountain and the rains they believed it provided, which ensured their villages were lush and green and full of bounty harvests. The British came and imposed Christianity and told them that contrary to their belief, God lived in heaven. In her memoir, Wangari (2006) explained: “The missionaries were followed by traders and administrators who introduced new methods of exploiting our rich natural resources: logging, clear-cutting native forests, establishing plantations of imported trees, hunting wildlife, and undertaking expansive commercial agriculture.

Hallowed landscapes lost their sacredness and were exploited as the local people became insensitive to the destruction, accepting it as a sign of progress” (p. 6). Young Maathai later travelled to Nyeri to stay with her mother, uncle and some siblings. One of her brothers suggested she begin attending school, a rare thing for the girls at the time. Fortunately, her mother agreed and she joined school. Later on, she was sent to a Catholic boarding school, run by nuns. Her family had to work extra hard so that she could afford tuition.

She was able to learn English and convert to Catholicism. Mau Mau rebellion was evident during her time at St.Cecilia’s. After graduating from high school Maathai was able to secure a scholarship to attend college in the U.S in the Kenedy Airlift. She began college at Mount St. Scholastica College in 1960. Wangari made friends in the U.S, who were eye-openers to many new experiences. She experienced the U.S. at a time of political and racial upheaval. Her home country gained independence in 1960 and she, as other Kenyans, was belated.

The commenced graduate studies in biology at the University of Pittsburgh. She then returned to Nairobi to get a zoology job at Nairobi