Monday, April 2, 2012

An Ode to the first African woman to earn a PhD in East and Central Africa


Voice and leadership: AN ODE to/Portrait of Wangari Maathai
(I read this poem at the Wangari Maathai celebration event: Brooklyn College CUNY, March 28th, 2012. I wrote this poem in the spring of 2011, I had no idea Professor Maathai was struggling with ovarian cancer. She passed away in September 2011, I added the last stanza after I heard about her passing.)


Miriam Wangari
Mary Josephine Wangari
Mary Josephine Wangari Muta
Wangari Muta
Wangari Muta Mathai
Wangari Muta Maathai

You have been known by many names
Names imposed on you
Names you imposed on yourself
Names you earned by marriage
“I am not an object
the name of which
can change with every new owner”
I now pronounce myself
 Wangari Muta Maathai
Once and for all!

Inspiring
A story of courage
Conflict
Conviction
A story of strength
Serendipity
Sagacity
A story of adversity
Advantages
Admonition

Courage to pursue your dreams
As serendipity placed you
In the right place at the right time

Courage to stick to your convictions
As fate placed before you
Insurmountable challenges
Divorce
Jail
Job loss
Jail
Broke
Jail
Hunger strike
Jail

How many academics
Have left the ivory tower
For the grassroots struggle?
How many
After working so hard
To earn tenure and promotion
To gain equality of the sexes
On university campus
Would take that fight to the street
Just when all seems to have settled

Getting your braids
Cut off
Pulled out
Piled with dirt
In the search for justice

Persistence
That ought to be your ‘anglo’ name
I now baptize you
Persistent
Resilient
Resourceful
Radical

Mother
Through struggle
Release political prisoners
Hunger strike with the mothers
Getting strength from motherhood
In the midst of personal
Political
Struggles

Pioneer
First woman to earn a PhD
1971 was a very good year
Yet
Not celebrated
Not even a small article
In the local dailies


Long journey to success
Divorced
Because you were apparently
Too strong
Too educated
Too successful
Too stubborn
Too hard to control

1979 was a very bad year!
“My greatest claim to fame
Was that I was married
To a man who was getting rid of me”
Publicly
Loudly
Media circus
Were they making an example of you?
Lest any woman
Should decide
To be strong
Educated
Successful
More than her owner/husband!

1982 was a very tough year
Failed attempt
At running for parliament
Road blocked 
By government
On whose wrong side
You’d found yourself
Lost university job too
No home
No job
No money

Professor Resilient
Never give up
Never give in
Rise from the ashes
Like a phoenix
Focus on Greenbelt Movement
And National Council of Women of Kenya
Leading both
To success
In the midst of
Financial struggles
And rise up
Lead
Political struggles notwithstanding

2002 was a very good year
Entry into parliament
But alas, assistant minister for environment?
What the *&^%!
Why on earth?
After all the sustainability leadership
You’d already demonstrated,
Assistant &^%$ minister?



2004 was the best year of your life!  
First African woman
Nobel Laureate!
Then the celebrations
Reverberated
Through university
City
Country
Continent
And the world!

Success
The sweetest revenge
No need to raise arms
Instead
The sweet smell of success
Is now your legacy

Success
To wipe away the tears
To swipe away the sneers
Of those who placed barriers
In your path
At university
In government  
In [un]civil society

Success
Now they call you great
Honorable
Nobel Laureate
Professor
Mother 
Activist
Global leader
Africa’s hope

Wangari Muta Maathai
Gone way too soon
We were not ready for your sudden departure
We were not prepared for you to leave us yet
But
You have fought the good fight
You have won the race
Now rest
We will pick up where you left off
In our universities and city halls
Our colleges and communities
Our parliaments and political parties
Until justice as you envisioned it
Becomes reality for all