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Peu Ye Nnyanennyane A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Written by Nicola Rijsdijk

Illustrated by Maya Marshak

Translated by Nal’ibali

Language Sepedi

Level Level 3

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Mo motseng, metheošeng ya Mount Kenya kua East Africa, mosetsana yo monnyane o be a šoma ka mašemong le mmagwe.

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 o be a rata go ba ka ntle. Ka tšhemong ya dijo ya gabo o be a epa mabu ka sabole ya gagwe. O be a šitlela dipeu tše dinnyanenyane mmung wa borutho.

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.


Nako ye a e ratago kudu mo letšatšing ke mathapama. Ge go be go fifetše kudu dimela di sa bonale, Wangari o be a tseba gore ke nako ya go gae.

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 e be e le ngwana wa bohlale gomme a fela pelo ya go ya sekolong. Efela mmagwe le tatagwe ba be ba sa nyake a eya ka ge ba nyaka a ba thuša ka gae.

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.


O be a rata go ithuta!

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.


Kua yunibesithing ya Amerika, Wangari o ithutile dilo tše dintši tše diswa. O ithutile ka ga dimela, le ka fao di golago ka gona. O ile a gopola ka fao a gotšego ka gona: a bapala meraloko le bana ba gabo ba bašemane meriting ya mehlare ka lešokeng le le botse la Kenya.

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.


Ge a be a ithuta go ya pele, o be a lemoga kudu ka fao a ratago batho ba Kenya ka gona. O be a nyaka gore ba thabe ba be ba lokologe.

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.


O ile go fetša dithuto tša gagwe a boela Kenya. Efela naga ya gabo e be e fetogile. Naga e be e na le dipolase tše dikgolokgolo. Basadi ba be ba se na dikgong tša go dira mello ya go apea.

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 o be a tseba seo a ka se dirago. O rutile basadi go bjala dimela ka dipeu.

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.


Ge nako e dutša e sepela, mehlare ye meswa e ile ya fetoga mašoka, gomme dinoka tša thoma go elela gape. Molaetša wa Wangari wa phatlalala Afrika.

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 o šomile ka maatla. Lefaseng ka bophara batho ba ile ba lemoga seo, gomme a fiwa sefoka sa go tuma. Se bitšwa Nobel Peace Prize, gomme e bile mosadi wa Afrika wa mathomo wa go se hwetša.

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 o ile a hlokagala ka 2011, efela ka mehla ge re bona mohlare o mobotse re ka mo gopola.

Wangari died in 2011, but we can think of her every time we see a beautiful tree.


Written by: Nicola Rijsdijk
Illustrated by: Maya Marshak
Translated by: Nal’ibali
Language: Sepedi
Level: Level 3
Source: A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai from African Storybook
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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