question_answer

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow.                                                                                       (8) Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who began a movement to reforest hercountry by paying poor women a few shillings to plant trees and who went on to become thefirst African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died in 2011. Dr Maathai played many roles? environmentalist, feminist, politician, professor,rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement which she founded in 1977. Its mission was to plant trees across Kenya to fight erosion and to create firewood for fuel and jobs for women. The movement made her very popular and she was affectionately called "Tree Woman" or "The Tree Mother of Africa". Dr Maathai was as comfortable in the gritty streets of Nairobi's slums or the muddy hillsides of central Kenya as she was hobnobbing with heads of state. She won the Peace Prize in 2004 for what the Nobel committee called "her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace." Her Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees in Africa and has helped nearly 900000 women, according to the United Nations, while inspiring similar efforts in other African countries. ''Wangari Maathai was a force of nature," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations' environmental programme. He likened her to Africa's ubiquitous acacia trees, "strong incharacter and able to survive sometimes the harshest of conditions." Dr Maathai toured the world, speaking out against environment degradation and poverty which she said early on were intimately connected. But she never lost focus on her native Kenya. She was athorn in the side of Kenya's previous President, Daniel Arap Moi whose government labelled the Green Belt Movement" subversive" during the 1980s. Mr Moi was particularly scornful of herleading the charge against a government plan to build a huge skyscraper in one of central Nairobi'sonly parks. The proposal was eventually scrapped, though not long afterward, during a protest, Dr Maathai was beaten unconscious by the police. (a) Answer the/allowing questions.                                                                                                                             (1 x 6 = 8) (i) Who was Wangari Maathai? (ii) When did Wangari Maathai die? (iii) Why was Dr Maathai called the 'Tree Woman'? (iv) What role did Dr Maathai play in the Green Belt Movement? (v) What was the mission of Green Belt Movement? (vi) What was Steiner's complement for Maathai? (vii) When did Maathai win the Peace Prize? (viii) How did Maathai react to environment degradation?

Answer:

(i) Wangari Maathai was the Kenyan environmentalist who became the first African woman winner of Nobel Peace Prize. (ii) Wangari Maathai died in 2011. (iii) Dr Maathai was called the 'Tree Woman' in affection as she became popular as a leader of Green Belt Movement in 1977. (iv) Dr Maathai played an active role as an environmentalist, politician, feminist and a leader of the Green Belt Movement. (v) The mission of Green Belt Movement was to plant trees to prevent soil erosion and create fire wood for fuel and jobs for women. (vi) Steiner considered Maathai as a force of nature. (vii) Maathai won the Peace Prize in 2004. (viii) Dr Maathai protested and spoke against environmental degradation throughout the world.