Meet Wangari Maathai

© Epic, 2010

Prized for Starting the Green Belt Movement
"The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple act of planting a tree, we give hope to ourselves and to future generations."

In 1971 Wangari Maathai became the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree.  Her education in biology and anatomy had instilled in her a passion for environmental preservation and sustainability.  After completing her schooling, Wangari taught veterinary anatomy at the University of Nairobi.  But Wangari was also active in many community organizations including the National Council of Women in Kenya (NCWK).  In 1976 Wangari first introduced and developed her idea to plant trees using womens groups.  

On World Environment Day in 1977, NCWK members marched to a park in downtown Nairobi.  There they planted seven trees to honor community leaders.  This was the first of many "green belts" in Africa.  Wangari saw planting trees as a way to fight deforestation, soil erosion, and drought in Kenya.  But there was more.  She also viewed planting trees as the first step in creating empowered womens groups who could come together to fight for equity, good governance, and peace. 

As time passed, Wangari's small idea evolved into a large organization called the Green Belt Movement.  In the 1980s, the Green Belt Movement started to train people from all over Africa in their approach to conserving the environment and empowering women. Green Belt Movements started to spring up all over the continent, then all over the world.

Thanks to Wangari's Green Belt Movement, over 40 million trees have been planted at homes, schools, and churches around the world.  Forests have been restored.  Soil erosion has been reduced.  Thousands of women and families have taken a stand for their environmental and human rights.  The Green Belt Movement hopes to plant one billion trees in the next decade.

Sources

The Green Belt Movement Website

Nobel Prize Biography

Check Out This Video
PBS's Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai Trailer

Meet Nick Moon & Martin Fisher

© Epic, 2010

Prized for Founding KickStart (formerly ApproTEC)

"If you look at the problems in Africa--in other developing countries -- the solution is to create a middle class." --Martin Fisher

When Martin Fisher (pictured on the right) traveled to Peru, it was the first time he had ever encountered poverty in the developing world.  As he trekked through the Andes, he couldn't stop thinking about how his background in mechanical engineering could be utilized to fight poverty.  Armed with a new PhD and a Fulbright Scholarship, Martin flew to Kenya to study the relationship between poverty and technology.

Enter Nick Moon.  A skilled carpenter, Nick was already in Kenya working with ACTIONAID to teach and utilize valuable construction techniques in impoverished slums and villages.  Martin learned about Nick's work and sought him out for help with his study.  Eventually, Martin joined the ACTIONAID team as well.  What was originally planned for a 10 month stay turned into a permanent job.

But something wasn't working.   Nick and Martin both began to see a discouraging pattern that so many of their projects were following.  Initially, projects would seem like a big success.  Aid workers would invest lots of time, energy, and money into getting things started.  Once the projects were up and running, funding and support would be withdrawn, and aid workers would move on to new ones.  Later, when aid workers would return to check up on their previous assignments, they were almost always dismayed to find the projects not functioning properly or even at all.

Martin and Nick spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going wrong.  They eventually decided to create an organization that they hoped would provide sustainable solutions to poverty.  In 1991, Martin and Nick founded ApproTEC, which was later renamed KickStart.  The company designs affordable technologies that help their customers increase their incomes.  KickStart's most successful product is the MoneyMaker Irrigation Pump.

To date, KickStart has sold over 156,000 irrigation pumps and created more than 99,900 new enterprises.  Each year, their products facilitate over $101 million in new profits and wages for their customers. 

Sources
PBS New Heroes Website http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/moon.html
Lemelson-MIT Program http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-winners/a-fisher.html
Kickstart Website http://www.kickstart.org/about-us/

Check Out This Video
PBS The New Heroes: Nick Moon & Martin Fisher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud1rwf8_Cv0