The Challenge for Africa

by Wangari Maathai

The troubles of Africa today are severe and wide-ranging. Yet, too often, they are portrayed by the media in extreme terms connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Here Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and founder of the Green Belt Movement, offers a refreshingly unique perspective on these challenges, even as she calls for a moral revolution among Africans themselves.

Illuminating the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, Maathai offers “hardheaded hope” and “realistic options” for change and improvement. She deftly describes what Africans can and need to do for themselves, stressing all the while responsibility and accountability. Impassioned and empathetic, The Challenge for Africa is a book of immense importance.

Genres: Africa, Nonfiction, Politics, History, Economics, Environment, Kenya

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as the University of Nairobi in Kenya. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 1984, she was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, and in 2004, she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005.In June 2009, Maathai was named as one of PeaceByPeace.com's first peace heroes.Until her death, Maathai served on the Eminent Advisory Board of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA).Maathai died on 25 September 2011 in Nairobi while receiving ovarian cancer treatment. She was 71.Selected publications

The Green Belt Movement: sharing the approach and the experience (1985)
The bottom is heavy too: even with the Green Belt Movement : the Fifth Edinburgh Medal Address (1994)
Bottle-necks of development in Africa (1995)
The Canopy of Hope: My Life Campaigning for Africa, Women, and the Environment (2002)
Unbowed: A Memoir (2006)
Reclaiming rights and resources women, poverty and environment (2007)
Rainwater Harvesting (2008)
State of the world's minorities 2008: events of 2007 (2008)
The Challenge for Africa (2009)
Replenishing the Earth (2010) ISBN 978030759114
more info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_...

Reviews

[Cherisa B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear-eyed review of common problems experienced in many African countries arising from its history, including colonialism, independence, international aid, resource extraction, and weak leadership and governance. The insights are deep and nuanced and also personal, making it feel more authentic than if it were coming from a Western diplomat or research/writer.

Ms. Maathai sprinkles in dreams of how Africa could or should proceed, gives examples of some goods things that have happened or been done right. Her focus for her dreams of a brighter and better Africa spring from its protection of the environment as the basis for all else, for protecting Mother Earth will provide sustenance for all life now and in the future. Education about the environment could transform so much including farming sustainably, the economy around understanding and managing the native resources rather than just laboring for the companies of other nations who take not only the minerals but the profits, eco-tourism and how protecting wildlife and land will be a gift that keeps on giving, etc. It could also foster the development of civil society and help end corruption.

Her thoughts are idealistic and praiseworthy, and yet no doubt pipedreams. Too hard, too much to change, too many things to do, so much easier to keep doing things the same way when the "next strong man" comes along, the next "election" is neither fair nor free. One wishes the dreams of an African Nobel Peace Prize winner could be a blueprint or a guide for the continent. If so, this would be it.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I'm still absorbing this book and the many, many, many ideas it casually contains. To start off, here's Publishers Weekly's review:

"Africa's moral and cultural dysfunctions loom as large as its material problems in this wide-ranging jeremiad. Maathai (Unbowed), a Kenyan biologist and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for organizing the tree-planting Green Belt Movement, surveys Africa's struggle with poverty and disease, political violence, climate change, the legacy of colonialism and a global economy that's stacked against it. But the deeper problem she sees is the selfishness, opportunism and shortsightedness of Africans themselves, from leaders who exploit their countrymen and loot their nations' resources to poor farmers who ruin the land for short-term gain. Maathai means this as an empowering message aimed at a mindset of dependency that would rather wait for someone to magically make development happen; she urges Africans to recover indigenous traditions of community solidarity and self-help, along with the virtues of honesty, fairness and hard work. Maathai shrewdly analyzes the links between environmental degradation and underdevelopment, and floats intriguing proposals, like banning plastic bags as a malaria-abatement measure. But the challenges she addresses are vast and intractable—and sadly, many of the development and environmental initiatives she extols seem to have already fizzled."

I was very impressed by her argument, her intellect, and both her optimism and skepticism. My thoughts, as a white American who has never been to Africa and has taken a college class focused largely on the effects of colonialism, run naturally to a guilt of the developed world taking advantage of a resource-rich undeveloped world. If the continent didn't have to deal with this, I think, then things would be different.

Maathai says that yes - while the developed world needs to cancel the debts incurred by African leaders who plainly could not pay them back, and while the mining companies headquartered in rich countries should be mindful of the terrible effect that their resource extraction has on the local populace, and while foreign governments and companies prolong and enable warfare and suffering by selling weapons to warlords, and while Russian fishing trawlers fish the waters off Angola, bring the fish back to Russia, and ship them frozen back to Angola to sell in the market - the real palpable fault lies with African leaders. These leaders, she says, have the benefit of education and influence, money and power, yet largely choose to squander it all on self-aggrandizement, short-term thinking, uneducated decisions, and ignoring the lessons learned by other countries. She has a long list and a comprehensive plan that these leaders should follow in order to: strengthen democratic institutions and revive trust in the government; respect and preserve natural resources so that all may benefit for centuries to come; and foster a culture of peace so that societies and families exist to be able to implement and take advantage of the other two "legs of the stool."

You could make the argument that she is arguing for utopia, but because her recommendations and observations are so attainable, and so logical, and so easy, this argument is unfair. Africa deserves even some tiny steps toward utopia, doesn't it?

Her writing is clear, very intelligent, thoughtful, and powerful. I sincerely hope people listen to her - both here and in Africa.

[Susan Steed · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The decline of much of Africa's fishing industry provides an unhappy glimpse into an economic order what continues to place commodities first and communities last, in which a problem like overfishing in the norther Atlantic and other regions of the world is exported to Africa, where it has led to African fish stocks and livelihoods being decimated. It is an example of how the world's interactions with Africa are not necessarily motivated by alruism, but by the self-interest of states seeking to maximise their opportunities and minimize their costs, often at the expense of those who are not in a position to do so".

This book is brilliant. It covers loads. It's the first book I have seen which brings together some cutting critiques on the economy, alongside more holistic writing on the environment.

There are so many ideas in the book. The perspective shifting bit for me was her analysis of colonialism with a focus on the role of Christianity. She is very critical of missionaries. So, for example, pre Christianity, Mount Kenya was called Kirinyaga, or 'place of brightness'. The Kikuyus believed that God dwelled on the mountain. That the rains, clean drinking water, green vegetation, and crops, all of which had a central place in their lives, flowed from it. Christians told them God did not live there, but in heaven so the mountain and it's forests, previously considered sacred, could be encroached upon.

She doesn't simplify, and she doesn't blame colonisalism on everything (there is lots on deforestation, civil society, debt, aid, etc). But reading this book has changed the way I relate to Western environmental movements. So, for example, I went to an event on the circular economy in St Paul's Cathedral where a number of Christian charities were speaking, plus others. And it struck me as extremely hypocritical that, in the West, we can have the cheek to come up with 'new' forms of organising the economy, like the circular economy, when whole communities around the world were already doing this before we came along. Following in footsteps of the slave traders, merchants and missionaries who took resources out of Africa are the economic experts and aid workers with 'new' ideas but never seeing how related their position is to the people who came before them.

She doesn't pull any punches but her vision is optimistic. What an incredible woman she was and I am optimistic to hear from a future generation of leading African female thinkers like her.

The book is also beautifully written, here is a quote that I particularly like.

"In seeking restoration for my continent, I am quite literally restoring myself - as, I believe, is every African - because who we are is bound up in the rivers and streams, the trees and the valleys. It is bound up in our languages, rich in aphorisms from the natural world and our fragile and almost forgotten past."

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well written, structured and personnel account from an African thought-leader. She articulates the woes of Africa but also proposes solutions which will require leadership and for the people to help themselves.
Her thoughts on civil society's involvement reminded me of Ricardo Semler's people-centric empowerment strategies that work so well. I was also impressed with her discussion on the micro-nations that are make up each nation-state and how to benefit from this diversity instead of having tribalism start conflicts. I also enjoyed her link of culture to the environment and the loss of tradition culture as one of the main problems facing Africa.
This book is almost a decade old and the author has unfortunately died. I would have liked her opinions on how things are travelling today in Africa.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that is at once challenging, saddening, inspiring, and dispiriting. Maathai portrays a very realistic portrait of the African continent with some, perhaps, overly optimistic proposals for how to better the future. I agree with her principles, but there is too much dependence in her ideas on people becoming more noble, which does not seem very likely at least in the short term, and, as she relentlessly portrays, we must make changes in the short term or we will have no long term.
Popsugar challenge 2019: A book written by an author from Asia, Africa or South America

[Chrishna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wangari Maathai clearly had some assistance in writing this book about Africa's challenges. Her writing is much improved from her previous book. I do take issue with her sometimes contradictory propositions. For example, in one chapter she states that one problem is that too much aide is given to Africa and then a chapter later she complains that not enough aide is given to Africa. Unfortunately, my overall sense from the book was a overwhelming sense of despair that an entire continent has so many seemingly insurmountable challenges. However, her best point was that each day millions of Africans are working hard and trying to have a good life and yet the primary Western image of Africans is that of starving children. A valuable, if depressing, read.

[Leone · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent analysis of the environmental, social and political challenges in Africa written by an environmentalist, a woman, an African, a politician but mostly from a leaders perspective. Those who are leaders or who aspire to be leaders can gain insight into what Africa could be with a different direction. It is a book filled with hopeful examples of individuals and groups who are right now making a difference and strengthening the future in Africa. It took a while to read because there are many ideas presented that I needed to ponder before moving on. It is a book worth reading by all in the global community.

[Daniel Kibsgaard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maathai is passionate about modern Africa and lays out a comprehensive strategy to bring the continent into the 21st century whilst emphasizing the importance of retaining cultural heritage. She finds African solutions to African problems which she describes very convincingly and through providing evidence.

The Challenge for Africa is missing in some criticism of African history. It should consider the lack of a self critical, literate, engineering society that strives to find solutions to problems. She does not full blame colonialism, yet must consider the poor pre-colonial competitiveness of African society, in our world.

[Mohamed · Rating 4 out of 5]

المساءلة والمسؤلية والعدالة والعمل حينما ينعدموا جميعا من قارة فاعلم انك فى أفريقيا !!
عندما تكون ضحية العولمة واتفاقيات التجارة العالمية فاعلم انك فى أفريقيا !!
القارة تعانى من متلازمة الحافلة الخطا ,دائما وابداً نسلك الطريق الخطا ,قارة من اساس سياساتها "الفائز ياخذ كل شئ" ,وعندما يتقاتل الجميع على الكعكة لن يتبقى الا الفتات.
أفريقيا تناقض !
الكتاب مليء بأمثلة من التاريخ الماضي والحالي على ما تم القيام به، وما يمكن القيام به لجعل أفريقيا افضل,الكتاب ايضا مهم من الناحية السياسية فهو يوضح ك��ف تسير العلاقات السياسية فى افريقيا وكيفية تنظيم الحياة السياسية.

[محمد الحجري · Rating 4 out of 5]

الكتاب: #أفريقيا_والتحدي
المؤلفة: وانغاري ماثاي
ترجمة: أشرف محمد كيلاني
الناشر: المجلس الوطني للثقافة والفنون والآداب
السلسلة: #عالم_المعرفة (410)
عدد الصفحات: 285

هذا الكتاب هو تأمل وقراءة للواقع الإفريقي الحالي وغوص في أعماق المشكلة. كتاب أتى من كاتبه أفريقية كينية من شعب الكيكويو الذي يعيش في جبل كينيا الشعب الضارب في القدم الغني بثقافته وتراثه الثقيل. كاتبه حاصله على جائزة نوبل للسلام مؤسسه لمجموعة الحزام الأخضر وبرلمانية سابقة. تستقرئ هنا واقع أفريقيا وما الذي صنع هذا الواقع الذي يجعل من أفريقيا في مؤخرة الركب الحضاري اليوم.

تأخذنا الكاتبة في رحلةٍ فريدة من نوعها لسبر المجتمع الإفريقي والغوص في أعماقه متسائلةً لماذا الشعب الأفريقي يفضل العيش على المساعدات بدل استغلال موارده بطريقة تمنع عنه المجاعات وتثرية فهي تقول أن الأفارقة تسيطر عليهم فكرة العجز فهم يرون أن الذي يجلبون لهم المساعدات الغذائية والدوائية هم الذين يستطيعون الانتاج والابتكار هم الذي يملكون القدرة بينما هم في عجز عن ما يستطيع عليه غيرهم من الشعوب المتقدمة التي تملك المال والتكنولوجيا. لذلك يفضلون العيش عالةً على الأمم الأخرى على أن يستغلوا مواردهم التي تحت أيديهم ليبتكروا ويصيروا الوسائل المتاحة للاستفادة من موارد الأرض في تغيير حالهم وحماية أنفسهم من المجاعات والأمراض.

ثم تطوف بنا المؤلفة على مشكلة أخرى تقع فيها أفريقيا اليوم وهي مشكلة الديون والقروض التي تمنحها الدول المتقدمة لدول الأفريقية والتي تكون في الغالب ذات فوائد مرتفعة جداً التي تذهب لجيوب النخبة الحاكمة ويتحمل الشعب دفعها من ما تقتطعه الحكومة وتنهبه من لقمة عيش المواطنين القابعين في الفقر المدقع في حين أن الأموال التي تم اقتراضها لم تصل لهم ولا إلى أولادهم لم تُنشأ بها البنية التحتية ولا تم تطوير القطاع الصحي أو التعليمي بها ولا دعم الانتاج الزراعي وتعليم المزارعين، فقط ذهبت لجيوب اللصوص الذي يمسكون بمفاصل الدولة والذين يصرِفون أغلب مداخيل الدولة على القطاع الأمني لا على القطاعات التي تلامس حياة الناس يشترون الاسلحة ويجيشون الجيوش ليقبضوا بيد من حديد على الدولة والشعب عصابة تحكم وتملك الأرض ومن عليها.

ثم تحدثنا على مشكلة التجارة العالمية التي تقوم فيها الدول الصناعية الكبرى ببيع منتجاتها رخيصة الثمن التي لا تقدم للأفارقة إلا تدمير لصناعاتهم وإنتاجهم المحلي بسبب بخس ثمن المنتجات المستوردة مقارنة بالمنتج المحلي فتقفل المصانع المحلية بسبب المنتجات الرخيصة التي تستبيح السوق فلا يستطيع المنتج المحلي الحصول على فرصة لبيع منتجاته ومواجهة المنتجات المستوردة. كل هذا بينما تقوم الدول الكبرى بفرض ضرائب كبيرة على المنتجات الإفريقية لا يستطيع معها المصنعون المنافسة في الاسوق الكبيرة في تلك الدول يخسرون هنا سوقهم المحلية وفرصة التصدير والاستفادة من الاسواق الاخرى.

أخذتنا الكاتبة في جولة على المشاكل في قيادة البلدان والمجتمع وذلك بسبب الحكومات والحكام الفاسدين الذين لا يهمهم إلا مصالحهم ولذاتهم الشخصية بينما يقبع البلد في فقر مدقع وهم يتاجرون بثرواته ويبيعونها للعالم الصناعي بأبخس الأثمان بدون الإحساس بأي ذرةٍ من تأنيب الضمير.

ثم عرج الكتاب على مشكلة الثقافة والهوية الأفريقية وكيف أن الدول المحتلة لإفريقيا لقرون عمدت على تحطيم وشيطنة واستحقار الثقافة الإفريقية ووصمت الأفارقة بأنهم قبائل بدائية لتسلخ المجتمع الأفريقي من هويته وتفصل بينه وبين تاريخه وثقافته بستحقارها لتلك الثقافة ووضعها على أنها رمز لتخلف كل هذا ليرى الأفارقة اليوم أنفسهم أنهم متخلفون وشعوب بدائية مستهلكة لما تنتجة الشعوب المتقدمة التي هي شعوب الدول المحتلة التي استباحة الدول الأفريقية ونهبت مواردها واستعبدت شعوب القارة لقرون. اصبح الافارقة يرون التحضر في الغرب وافعاله وثقافته بينما انسلخوا من ثقافتهم وتراثهم المحليين وطمسوا حضارتهم على حساب اتباع حضارة المحتل الغاصب لأراضيهم وتعلم لغته واتباع خطاه على اساس أنه هو المتحضر وهم المتخلفون.

كذلك حدثتنا الكاتبة عن الدول المجهرية التي هي تركيبة أفريقيا قبل تقسيمها دولاً بتقسيمات وحدود صنعتها الدول المحتلة لأفريقيا وما هي في الحقيقة إلا تقسيمات وضعتها الدول الغاصبة تحديداً للمساحات التي تملك حق غصب ونهب ثرواتها فقط يقتسمون افريقيا فيما بينهم وحينما انسحبت جيوشهم حولت تلك الحدود المناطق لدول يحكمها اذناب المستعمرين لعقود يحكمونها بالحديد والنار وطبعاً تدعمهم الدول الغاصبة بالمساعدات المالية بين الفينة والأخرى وتقدم لهم تسهيلات للاقتراض وفي المقابل يقدمون محاصيل أفريقيا لتلك الدول باسعار بخسة جداً فيما تعاني شعوبهم الفقر المدقع والجوع والامراض.

ثم بالختام أخذنا الكتاب في جولة على المبادرات التي قام بها الأفارقة أنفسهم سواءاً الذين في الداخل أو في الخارج لإنقاذ ومساعدة أفريقيا ودفع عجلة التنمية فيها وهي مبادرات قام بها مشاهير واثريا لتحسين حال قارتهم السمراء ورفع مستوى حياة أهلها وحماية مقدراتها الطبيعية.

[Tinea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good survey of development topics, distinguished by an emphasis on national-level policies and leadership, culture and civil society, and the environment. Maathai covers all the familiar ground, reviewing colonialism, neoliberalism, debt, and the continuing extractive economic structures that maintain the North's global dominance via exploitation of the global South. Maathai examines ethnic conflict by breaking down the difference between celebrating and supporting what she terms 'micronations,' the diverse ethnic and cultural groups that were arbitrarily bound together into macr onation-states during colonial times, and stirring ethnic hatred. Maathai believes that ethnic conflict can be lessened by elevating, respecting, engaging, and educating each other about micronations, since so much conflict emanates from the fight for an ethnic group's survival. Denying or erasing these cultural identifies normalizes the most powerful while pushing many allegiances underground where they may rupture violently when resources are at stake. As the founder of the Green Belt Movement and a biologist by training, Maathai clearly places the concept of 'resources' within the larger ecosystem. Maathai lays out the intersecting impacts of deforestation on agriculture, water, and climate (both local and gloabl). She advocates for the multiple ways that planting trees and preserving forests (especially in the Congo River Basin) is critical to African and global survival.

Anyone who has already studied international development in school or read a few general surveys should probably skip this and go straight to Maathai's phenomenal and inspiring biography, Unbowed. In The Challenge for Africa, Maathai addresses African leaders at the national level. She has the diversity of experience to truly center the desires and needs of marginalized rural women, their cultures, and their ecosystems to create holistic, prioritized, and radical policy recommendations. Yet, this focus on national-level policy is to the surprising exclusion of grassroots power, grassroots political mobilization, and grassroots direct action. The Greenbelt Movement reclaims land through tree planting, both ecologically because trees help curb soil erosion and conserve water, but also politically, by the group's use of tree planting as a defensive weapon against land grabs and human rights abuses, by planting trees and themselves in the way of bulldozers and police. The Green Belt Movement's work is by and for rural women and the people and land they love and depend on, so it was jarring how little acknowledgement of poor women's power to make change was represented in this book. Even if the policy recs were solid, the process to enact them was dependent on moral good will from elites who have been convinced to release their hold on power and resources. I must assume this book was strategically targeted toward African political and economic elite, the diaspora, and some international policymakers. Otherwise, what a disappointingly cynical, paralyzing conclusion.

All that said, big ups to non-fiction African development survey books written by African grassroots feminist political activists! I'd pair this with Soyinka's Of Africa, and I guess, though I vehemently disagree with her conclusions, Moyo's Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa. What else?

[Wangari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Masterpiece. An insightful look at contemporary Africa.

[Shico Kimani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by this book. I was in awe of Wangari. What a brilliant, passionate icon!

The challenges she highlighted in the book are still relevant today, over a decade since it was written. The way she explains the role of culture, the family unit, and environmental conservation in development is my highlight. I felt challenged, educated, and inspired to do my part, however small, even if it means protecting my cultural background as a valuable jewel.

As a Kenyan, I couldn't help but ask myself if Wangari [RIP] would be proud of the progress we've made so far as a country and a continent. This book is a masterpiece, and I wish every African leader and any person who cares about our continent's development would read it.

[Till Unger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Die Friedensnobelpreisträgerin Wangari Maathai führt aus, vor welchen Problemen Afrika und einzelne Länder stehen, woher diese stammen und welche Lösungsmöglichkeiten es gibt. Auch wenn das Buch schon etwas älter ist, sind die angesprochenen Themen (leider) noch hochaktuell. Sehr lesenswert!

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is interesting to see how conditions in Africa in 2009 can apply to conditions in the U.S. in 2025...and going forward, who will have progressed as a developed country/continent and who will have descended into third world status?

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant

[Andrew Benesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Challenge for Africa is a complex, multifaceted examination of the political, social, economic, and cultural problems facing the leaders of modern African states and a series of potential solutions for addressing these problems. Because the book takes on a wide range of intersecting problems, most chapters are about half history, a quarter development theory, and a quarter policy proposals. The resulting book provides a sound orientation to modern African issues, and is a good starting place for understanding what does and does not work in development work. Those who wish to enact change in Africa via outreach or political intervention should spend some time with this book.

Of interest to me was Maathai's insightful analysis of how cultural structures associated with both colonialism and post-colonial identities challenge the implementation of broader political projects. The roles of missionaries and colonialists in de-stabilizing identities and cultural structures and their exacerbation of competition between micro-national groups reflects an understanding of African social issues that is often overlooked by other African development scholars. Similarly, the discussion of the complicated problems of providing direct financial aid does a good job in highlighting both the need for continued external economic support, the importance of fostering independence through natural resource development, and the hazards of poorly implemented aid dissemination strategies.

In reading other reviews, it seems many reviewers expect very straightforward solutions to the problems of Africa, and are very focused on singular aspects of problems or solutions (e.g., aid money is often used to exacerbate income gaps and support unsustainable agricultural strategies, and is therefore harmful), and miss the intersections between her solutions (e.g., recognizing the need for ongoing and increased aid, but changing mechanisms to ensure appropriate use of funds in sustainable projects that foster agricultural and economic independence). It is important to acknowledge that the solutions Mathaai offers are imperfect and overlook many problems that African nations experience, but they do provide a framework for developing economic strength, agricultural security, and social unity which are the pre-requisites for addressing many of the continent's other problems. Acting on these recommendations also positions African nations to be more influential in addressing international issues which greatly affect them, such as continued resource exploitation by foreign governments and the ongoing damage of climate change.

[Florence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and 14 years on it's still very relevant to our current affairs.

A call for Africans to embrace their culture, language, spirituality and wholeness in being African.

Our culture is not backwards, it is not inferior to the western culture. We had our own forms of government, weapons and agricultural practices that worked for US but with colonization came the inferiority complex and departure from our principles and way of life for what was more advanced but at what cost? We have forgotten who we are and discarded all the beautiful parts of our culture and our sense of self.

I love that Maathai pushes for us to help ourselves and do what we can rather than fully rely on foreign aid because even after receiving foreign aid, we need to establish mechanisms that can endure even after the foreign aid dries up. The same goes for any minerals we may rely on as a source of income - we need to think ahead to when these minerals dry up because they won't always be there. We can do this by choosing better leaders and demanding the best from them.

Africa is so rich of resources yet we're still among the most poor - even after colonization, we're still being exploited by developed countries and this happens because our leaders are corrupt and are willing to have our continent plundered for their own personal gain.

[Elliard Shimaala · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For five centuries, the outside world has been telling Africans who they are....Africans were told that their societies were backwards, their religious traditions sinful, their agricultural practices primitive, their system of governance irrelevant and their cultural norms barbaric,"-Wangari Maathai

Five stars for this book because it was written by an African who understands Africa. I am so sick and tired of people like Robert Guest telling our story and offering pro-west solutions to our problems. Wangari book has put Robert Guest to shame and in his place. She reveals the realities of Africa that need serious attention while considering there impact on the people and the continent. There is no prejudice in her writing but straight facts of how great we can be once we make that decision. As a young African, I love the challenge presented in this book and my resolve henceforth is to be part of the solution to Africa's woes.

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some years ago I read a book on post colonial Africa written by a European journalist. I was appalled at the elitist bias in this supposedly historical book. I asked a colleague of mine from Malawi about a good book on Africa by an African; he could not recommend one. Now I have found the book Wangiri Matthai, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient for environmental work in the Green Belt Movement, is a native Kenyan, who speaks as an African about Africa to Africans and those concerned. While remaining critical of the European colonialist who destroyed African consciousness, she also speaks to her fellow Africans as to their need to take charge of their history. The book is full of examples from past and current history on what has been done and can be done to bring Africa to the place of prosperity and stability it deserves.

[S.E. Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this complex book because it was written by someone I respect. May she rest in peace. The book covers a lot of topics in detail that affect Africa including its colonial past. There was not much that I didn't already know but I am glad that it was written by a Nobel prize winner, so that it is taken seriously. From an African point of view, I agree with her points and solutions when it comes to political and economical issues facing Africa today. Good governance and self sustenance is the way forward, although one solution will not apply to all 54 countries. Having said that, I am still of the view that aide is very important in some sectors e.g. health. If it wasn't for organizations like the WHO, UNAIDS and Global Fund, a lot more people would be dead. If you are interested in African development, this book is for you.

[Xavier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wangari Maathai is a Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of Green Belt Movement. In her book, The Challenge for Africa, she talks about the ways and means through which Africa can recover from extreme poverty, conflicts between micro-nations, destruction of environment, etc. The book identifies the problems to the core and suggests solutions. The book is choreographed in order: history and background, politics and economical situations, leadership and governance, relation between the ethnic micro-nation and nation-state, environmental challenges and challenges faced by individuals of Africa. The problems identified and the solutions suggested in this book are very real and convincing.

I suggest this book to everyone as this is a window to African issues and their challenges to climb up the ladder.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting, well-written, carefully crafted read. Though everything in this book is old knowledge if one knows even a little bit if African political history, it is refreshing to see a well-educated woman exposing the ills of Africa and proposing concrete ways to alleviate the plight of her people. Well done, Ms. Maathai!

[Debby · Rating 5 out of 5]

My literary agent, LH, recommended this book to me. Excellent account of the struggles the people in Africa encounter. Africans are hardworking, resilient and in need of the basics (education, skills, opportunity, freedom to express their culture/spirituality and a voice in their leadership/government).

[Peter Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Worth reading and educational.

It is interesting that "America" can be substituted for "Africa" in many sentences and when it comes to sustainable development, The World.

It's time for humanity to change and for the failing short term leaders to be replaced, and time for the answer to be bloodless - not bloody conflict.

[Azania Zulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mama Wangari Maathai, Africa's Baobab..she does not only talk about the problems plaguing Africa but she also suggests and provides solutions for our beloved continent. My favourite book on Africa thus far.

[Tommie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked her autobiography a lot more, and more technical books like Why Nations Fail. This was kind of a less good version of both. I'd mostly recommend it for people who haven't read about development before and will still find sentences like "Africa is a paradox" a revelation.

[Sarah Logan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I’m a big fan of Wangari Maathai’s, i didn’t enjoy this book much. It tried to cover everything but covered nothing in much depth - the result was many generalizations, very few nuanced explanations, and nothing new. It was pretty despairing and also came across as quite preachy.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

inspiring!

[Wangari Mwangi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant work (book) of Wangari Mathaai. she calls a spade by its name, and not big spoon.
a must read for any African.