I en landsby ved foden af Mount Kenya i Østafrika arbejdede en lille pige i marken med sin mor. Hendes navn var Wangari.
In a village on the slopes of Mount Kenya in East Africa, a little girl worked in the fields with her mother. Her name was Wangari.
Wangari elskede at være udenfor. I hendes families køkkenhave vendte hun jorden med sin machete. Hun stak små frø ned i den varme jord.
Wangari loved being outside. In her family’s food garden she broke up the soil with her machete. She pressed tiny seeds into the warm earth.
Hendes yndlingstid på dagen var lige efter solnedgang. Når det blev for mørkt til at se planterne, vidste Wangari, at det var på tide at gå hjem. Hun fulgte den smalle sti gennem markerne og krydsede floder, mens hun gik.
Her favourite time of day was just after sunset. When it got too dark to see the plants, Wangari knew it was time to go home.
She would follow the narrow paths through the fields, crossing rivers as she went.
Wangari var et klogt barn og kunne ikke vente, til hun skulle i skole. Men hendes mor og far ville have, at hun skulle blive hjemme og hjælpe dem. Da hun var syv år gammel, overtalte hendes storebror deres forældre til at lade hende gå i skole.
Wangari was a clever child and couldn’t wait to go to school. But her mother and father wanted her to stay and help them at home.
When she was seven years old, her big brother persuaded her parents to let her go to school.
Hun kunne lide at lære! Wangari lærte mere og mere for hver bog, hun læste. Hun klarede sig så godt i skolen, at hun blev inviteret til at studere i USA. Wangari var spændt! Hun ville vide mere om verden.
She liked to learn! Wangari learnt more and more with every book she read. She did so well at school that she was invited to study in the United States of America.
Wangari was excited! She wanted to know more about the world.
På det amerikanske universitet lærte Wangari mange nye ting. Hun studerende planter, og hvordan de vokser. Og hun huskede, hvordan hun selv voksede op: mens hun spillede spil med sine brødre i skyggen af træerne i de smukke kenyanske skove.
At the American university Wangari learnt many new things. She studied plants and how they grow. And she remembered how she grew: playing games with her brothers in the shade of the trees in the beautiful Kenyan forests.
Jo mere hun lærte, desto mere indså hun, at hun elskede menneskene i Kenya. Hun ville have, at de skulle være glade og fri. Jo mere hun lærte, desto mere mindedes hun sit afrikanske hjem.
The more she learnt, the more she realised that she loved the people of Kenya. She wanted them to be happy and free.
The more she learnt, the more she remembered her African home.
Da hun var færdig med sine studier, rejste hun hjem til Kenya. Men hendes land havde forandret sig. Store farme strakte sig over landet. Kvinderne havde intet brænde til at lave bål med. Folkene var fattige, og børnene var sultne.
When she had finished her studies, she returned to Kenya. But her country had changed. Huge farms stretched across the land. Women had no wood to make cooking fires. The people were poor and the children were hungry.
Wangari vidste, hvad hun skulle gøre. Hun lærte kvinderne at plante træer af frø. Kvinderne solgte træerne og brugte pengene på deres familier. Kvinderne var meget glade. Wangari havde hjulpet dem, så de følte sig mægtige og stærke.
Wangari knew what to do. She taught the women how to plant trees from seeds. The women sold the trees and used the money to look after their families. The women were very happy. Wangari had helped them to feel powerful and strong.
Som tiden gik, blev de nye træer til skove, og floderne begyndte at strømme igen. Wangaris budskab begyndte at sprede sig over Afrika. I dag er millioner af træer vokset fra Wangaris frø.
As time passed, the new trees grew into forests, and the rivers started flowing again. Wangari’s message spread across Africa. Today, millions of trees have grown from Wangari’s seeds.
Wangari havde arbejdet hårdt. Folk fra hele verden bemærkede det og gav hende en berømt pris. Den hedder Nobels Fredspris, og hun var den første afrikanske kvinde nogensinde, der modtog den.
Wangari had worked hard. People all over the world took notice, and gave her a famous prize. It is called the Nobel Peace Prize, and she was the first African woman ever to receive it.
Wangari døde i 2011, men vi kan tænke på hende hver gang, vi ser et smukt træ.
Wangari died in 2011, but we can think of her every time we see a beautiful tree.
