Wangari Maathi Planted Millions of Trees as a Form of Resistance and Empowerment

Wangari Maathi

Check out this piece on Wangari Maathi, The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees.  As a child growing up in Kenya, she saw the colonial settlers chop down trees in order to grow cash crops such as tea.  Later on after colonisation effectively ended, she saw Kenyans do the same thing in order to survive.  

At that time, girls were rarely educated, but Maathi's mother made sure she got an education.  

I found this piece very inspiring, and I trust that you will, too.  

Trees connect us to something elemental in nature, and to our own elemental nature.  

 

 

For more about trees, check out this poem by Ursula K. LeGuin, and this one by Mary Oliver.  

What is your relationship with trees like?  Please post your answer below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.  

World War One: The Crucial Battle for Togo

Map of colonised Africa 1914

I watched this very interesting short film on the BBC today. 

The wireless station at Kamina in Togo, West Africa, was a crucial centre for German communications.  Built by a huge workforce of African men and women during the German occupation, the station allowed the German colonisers to communicate with their home country and with Asia.

This is just one of many examples of how African labour, land and resources were exploited by European colonisers during the war. 

See also:  Black People in the First World War. 

Black History: Break the Silence Congo Week 2014

Mutilated in Congo

In the 19th century, under the rule of King Leopold II, Congolese people were enslaved, forced to work in their own country, which had been turned into the king's private estate, and mutilated when they failed to meet the quotas that had been set for rubber extraction. 

For a fifth year, Black History Studies will take part in the Break the Silence Congo Week for Black History Month. 

The purpose of the Break the Silence Congo Week is to raise consciousness about the devastating situation in the Congo and mobilize support on behalf of the people of the Congo. 

Click here for details.  

For lots more Black history images, see:  African Images and Black History International on Pinterest.