Kenyan collects her Nobel Prize

OSLO -- The first African woman and the first Kenyan to win the Nobel Peace Prize, environmental activist Wangari Maathai, received her award yesterday to the beat of drums and dancers that broke with the usual stodgy ceremony.

Maathai, 64, received the traditional gold medal and diploma that accompanies the $1.5 million prize at a ceremony in Norway.

''We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process . . .embrace the whole creation in all its diversity, beauty, and wonder," Maathai said.