Passion begins with a burden and a split-second moment, when you understand something like never before. That burden is on those who know. Those who don’t know are at peace. Those of us who do know get disturbed and are forced to take action.

Because I was a woman, I was vulnerable. It was easy to vilify me and project me as a woman who was not following the tradition of a ‘good African woman.’

We tend to put the environment last because we think the first thing we have to do is eliminate poverty. But you can’t reduce poverty in a vacuum. You are doing it in an environment.

As I swept the last bit of dust, I made a covenant with myself: I will accept. Whatever will be, will be. I have a life to lead. I recalled words a friend had told me, the philosophy of her faith. “Life is a journey and a struggle,” she had said. “We cannot control it, but we can make the best of any situation.” I was indeed in quite a situation. It was up to me to make the best of it.

What people see as fearlessness is really persistence. Because I am focused on the solution, I don’t see the danger.

As long as there is no trust and confidence that there will be justice and fairness in resource distribution, political positioning will remain more important than service.

Hallowed landscapes lost their sacredness and were exploited as the local people became insensitive to the destruction, accepting it as a sign of progress.

There’s a general culture in this country to cut all the trees. It makes me so angry because everyone is cutting and no one is planting.

The living conditions of the poor must be improved if we really want to save our environment.

It was easy for me to be ridiculed and for both men and women to perceive that maybe I’m a bit crazy because I’m educated in the West and I have lost some of my basic decency as an African woman.