In Unbowed we learn how Wangari Maathai grew up in a traditional Kikuyu community in Kenya. Instead of rejecting her background, she used it as a springboard for a movement for democracy and the environment that won her the Nobel peace prize.
Each woman embodies a life that starts within the horrible boundaries of local traditions, social constraints, and superstitious traditions that otherwise hold most people back in the Dark Ages. Her story ends in the open fields of globalised debate and activism.
These women survive extreme oppression and undertake a transformation - from devout Muslim to secular humanist. Their stories throw you into a spiritual journey from one of the most underdeveloped and repressed backwater specks on the planet…to a climatic self-realization. These astonishing transformations throw down the gauntlet for all of us…in the “free world”…to outdo ourselves and achieve unimaginable goals...not taking our freedoms for granted…and not cringing in fear or creating our own obstacles to the wide open opportunities before us.
Ayaan runs us down a path of unpredictable emotions, starting with disgust and pity to admiration - and ending with a clear headed rational way to deal with life’s challenges. She is the Olympic gold-medalist in the game of survival, adaptation, and success. As such, she defines her success on her own terms.
By the standards of the American notion of success, she shatters the limits and makes the American Dream look like a cheap used car transaction of the soul.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
