WANGARI MAATHAI PLANTS A TREE...AT OUR SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by JACOB AND MUGDHA
Jacob's slide show of Wangari	Roben's slide show of Wangari
“That is a very big tree” observed Wangari as a young red sunset maple was carefully lowered into the moist earth-a transplant from one New England habitat to another-ready to take root in our little school yard here in Brattleboro.  Aptly stated I thought as I reflected on how many of the trees planted as part of the Green Belt Movement have begun as diminutive little saplings and how their “taking root” has come to be the significant legacy of Wangari Maathai.   Experiencing this considerable legacy first hand came to be for me here at Oak Grove School on a chilly day in early April, as I was part of  a small group of people both young and old who gathered together to carry forward environmentalist and Nobel Peace prize winner Wangari Maathai’s legacy.   A native of Kenya, Wangari in my mind’s eye is best described as infectious. What is communicable is both her radiant smile and passion for her beliefs such as sustainability, human rights and most significantly peace.  Her fervor readily transferred to both the children and adults wh"o were in attendance on the playground to celebrate in the planting of a tree which came to be enhanced with the impromptu singing of songs native to both Kenya and Vermont. Like several others, I helped Wangari transfer the deep, dark earth onto the newly inserted tree with its soon to be all encompassing roots, all of which left me with a sense of awe as a sentiment of a kinship between the earth, Wangari and the children who surrounded her took hold.   I found it to be a joyful day, rich both for the experience that was to be had and for its nutrients, as I believe it has fed the future with its impact on the children; for me it was the day a tree came to Brattleboro-a day filled with moments I will never forget. From our lovely source, Roben