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A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai |
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Writer: Nicola Rijsdijk
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Illustration: Maya Marshak and Onesmus Kakungi
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© Nicola Rijsdijk, Maya Marshak, Tarryn-Anne Anderson, Bookdash.org and African Storybook Initiative, 2015
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A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
In a village on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa, a little girl worked in the fields with her mother. |
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Her name was Wangari. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Wangari loved being outside. |
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In her family's food garden she broke up the soil with her machete. |
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She pressed tiny seeds into the warm earth. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Her favourite time of day was just after sunset. |
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When it got too dark to see the plants, Wangari knew it was time to go home. |
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She would follow the narrow paths through the fields, crossing rivers as she went. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Wangari was a clever child and couldn't wait to go to school. |
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But her mother and father wanted her to stay and help them at home. |
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When she was seven years old, her big brother persuaded her parents to let her go to school. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
She liked to learn! Wangari learnt more and more with every book she read. |
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She did so well at school that she was invited to study in the United States of America. |
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Wangari was excited! She wanted to know more about the world. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
At the American university Wangari learnt many new things. |
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She studied plants and how they grow. |
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And she remembered how she grew: playing games with her brothers in the shade of the trees in the beautiful Kenyan forests. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
The more she learnt, the more she realised that she loved the people of Kenya. |
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She wanted them to be happy and free. |
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The more she learnt, the more she remembered her African home. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
When she had finished her studies, she returned to Kenya. |
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But her country had changed. |
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Huge farms stretched across the land. |
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Women had no wood to make cooking fires. |
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The people were poor and the children were hungry. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Wangari knew what to do. |
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She taught the women how to plant trees from seeds. |
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The women sold the trees and used the money to look after their families. |
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The women were very happy. |
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Wangari had helped them to feel powerful and strong. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
As time passed, the new trees grew into forests, and the rivers started flowing again. |
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Wangari's message spread across Africa. |
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Today, millions of trees have grown from Wangari's seeds. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Wangari had worked hard. |
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People all over the world took notice, and gave her a famous prize. |
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It is called the Nobel Peace Prize, and she was the first African woman ever to receive it. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
Wangari died in 2011, but we can think of her every time we see a beautiful tree. |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai page # |
A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai. Writer: Nicola Rijsdijk. Illustration: Maya Marshak and Onesmus Kakungi. © Nicola Rijsdijk, Maya Marshak, Tarryn-Anne Anderson, Bookdash.org and African Storybook Initiative, 2015. Audio: VT Software: AJR, NJA, TLG |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) Version 4.0 Unported Licence Disclaimer: You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute or credit the original creators. |