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እታ ደቃቕ ዘርኢ፡ ዛንታ ዋንጋሪ ማታይ A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai

Written by Nicola Rijsdijk

Illustrated by Maya Marshak

Translated by Daniel Berhane Habte

Language Tigrinya

Level Level 3

Narrate full story The audio for this story is currently not available.


ኣብ ምብራቕ ኣፍሪቃ ኣብ ዝባን ናይ እምባ ኬንያ ኣብ እትርከብ ሓንቲ ዓዲ፡ ሓንቲ ንእሽቶ ጓል ምስ ኣዲኣ ኣብቲ ግራውቲ ትሰርሕ ነበረት። ስማ ዋንጋሪ ትበሃል።

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.


ዋንጋሪ ኣብ ግዳም ምዃን ትፈቱ ነበረት። ኣብ ናይ ስድራኣ ስፍራ ኣታኽልቲ፡ ብጐዘሞ ጌራ ነቲ ድንኩል ትሰባብሮ። ንኣሽቱ ኣዝርእቲ ናብቲ ምዉቕ መሬት ጠዊቓ ተእትው።

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.


ጸሓይ ዕራርብቦ እቲ ኣዝያ እትፈትዎ ክፍለግዜ ናይ መዓልቲ እዩ። መሬት ጸልሚቱ ኣትክልቲ ምርኣይ ክኣብይዋ ከለዉ፡ ዋንጋሪ ንቤታ ትኸደሉ እዋን ከምዝኣኸለ ክተስተብህል ከኣለት። ክትከይድ ከላ፡ ሩባ ተሳጊራ ነቲ ብማእከል ግራት ዝስንጥቕ ቀጢን መንገዲ ትኽተል።

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.


ዋንጋሪ በላሕ ቆልዓ እያ ዝነበረት ትምህርቲ ክትጅምር ድማ ሃረር ትብል ነበረት። ኣዲኣን ኣቦኣን ግና ክትጸንሕ’ሞ ኣብ ቤት ክትሕግዞም ደለዩዋ። ዕድሚኣ ሸውዓተ ዓመት ምስኣኸለ፡ ዓቢ ሓዋ ናብ ቤት ትምህርቲ ክሰዱዋ ንወለዳ ኣእመነኖም።

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.


ዋንጋሪ ትምህርቲ ትፈቱ ነበረት! ካብ ነፍሲ-ወከፍ ዘንበበቶ መጽሓፍ ብዙሕ ተማህረት። ኣብ ትምህርታ ኣዝያ ብልጽቲ ብምዃን ኣብ ሕቡራት መንግስታት ኣሜሪካ ንኽትመሃር ዕድል ረኸበት። ዋንጋሪ ኣዝያ ተሓጐሰት! ብዛዕባ ዓለም ዝያዳ ክትፈልጥ ተሃንጠየት።

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.


ኣብቲ ናይ ኣሜሪካ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ዋንጋሪ ብዙሕ ሓድሽ ነገራት ተማህረት። ብዛዕባ ኣትክልትን ከመይ ከምዝበቝሉን ኣጽንዐት። ኣብቲ ማራኺ ጫካታት ናይ ኬንያ ኣብ ትሕቲ ጽላል ናይ ኣእዋም ምስ ኣሕዋታ እናተጻወተት፡ ንባዕላ ከመይ ከምዝዓበየት’ውን ዘከረት።

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.


ዝያዳ ብዝተማህረት፡ ንህዝቢ ኬንያ ከምትፈትዎም ዝያዳ ተገንዘበት። ሕጕሳትን ናጻን ክዀኑ ደለየት። ዝያዳ ብዝተማህረት፡ ነቲ ናይ ኣፍሪቃ ቤታ ዝያዳ ዘከረት።

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.


ትምህርታ ምስወድአት፡ ናብ ኬንያ ተመልሰት። ሃገራ ግን ተቐዪራ ጸንሓታ። ዓበይቲ ሕርሻታት ኣብቲ ሃገር ኣስፋሕፍሑ። ኣዴታት ንመብሰሊ መግቢ ዝኸውን ዕንጨይቲ ሰኣና። ህዝቢ ደኽዩ ቆልዑ ድማ ጠመዩ።

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.


ዋንጋሪ እንታይ ክትገብር ከምዘለዋ ተገንዘበት። ነተን ኣዴታት ካብ ዘርኢ ከመይ ጌርካ ገረብ ከምእተብቍል መሃረተን። እተን ኣዴታት ነቲ ኣግራብ ሸጥኦ ነቲ ዝረኸቦኦ ኣታዊ ድማ ንመእለዪ ስድራቤተን ኣውዓልኦ። እተን ኣዴታት ኣዝየን ተሓጐሳ። ዋንጋሪ ፍናንን ጽንዓትን ክስምዐን ሓጊዛተን እያ።

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.


ግዜ ብዝሓለፈ፡ እቲ ሓደስቲ ኣግራብ ጫካ ዀነ፡ እቶም ኣፍላግ ድማ ከም ቀደሞም ክዛርዩ ጀመሩ። ናይ ዋንጋሪ ኣስተምህሮ ካብ ጻትንጻት ኣፍሪቃ ተዘርግሐ። ሎሚ፡ ካብ ናይ ዋንጋሪ ዘራእቲ ሚልዮናት ኣግራብ በቚሉ ይርከብ።

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.


ዋንጋሪ ጽዒራ እያ። ዓለም ብዓለሙ ኣቕለበላ፡ ኣዝዩ ግኑን ሽልማት ድማ ኣበርከተላ። እቲ ሽልማት ናይ ሰላም ሽልማት ኖበል እዩ ዝበሃል፡ ንሳ ድማ ነዚ ሽልማት ዝበቕዐት ናይ ፈለማ ኣፍሪቃዊት ጓል ኣንስተይቲ ኮነት።

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.


ዋንጋሪ ኣብ 2011 እኳ ብሞት እንተተፈለየትና፡ ጽቡቕ ኦም ኣብንርእየሉ ኵሉ ግዜ ግና ኣብ ኣእምሮና ትቕጀለና።

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: Daniel Berhane Habte
Language: Tigrinya
Level: Level 3
Source: A Tiny Seed: The Story of Wangari Maathai from African Storybook
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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