Inside Story: A Life of Influence
Elizabeth Kimongo was born into a traditional Maasai family in Kenya. In her culture girls are expected to marry soon after their twelfth birthday. Women have little to say about their lives, but Elizabeth refused to leave school to marry. She had a dream.
While home for vacation before starting high school, Elizabeth learned that her father had arranged for her to marry an older man. With her mother’s blessing, she escaped and returned to her Adventist school.During high school Elizabeth took her stand for Christ and later was baptized. When she told her mother that she wanted to study at the Adventist university, her mother encouraged her to go.
Elizabeth is majoring in agriculture, a field that will help her teach her people how to preserve their land and provide a better life. She works on campus and receives some scholarship funds to help her pay her school fees. Sometimes she must take a semester off to work full time to earn the money to continue her studies.
Elizabeth’s example has helped her younger sisters stay in school and avoid early marriage. Her father, once angry that his daughter would refuse to marry the man of his choice, now accepts her decision. But he pressures her younger sisters to marry this man. Elizabeth encourages her sister to walk close to God and continue their studies to make a better life.
Elizabeth urges other Maasai girls to study hard and trust in God. “Don’t allow life’s circumstances to steal your life away,” she says. “Satan wants to destroy you. You must trust God and not let Satan have his way.”
Elizabeth is old enough now that her community will not force her to marry. They accept her as an adult woman who can make her own decisions. “I want to teach my people by example how to produce better crops for a better life,” she says. “The village has given me a piece of land that I use to plant crops so that my fellow villagers can see for themselves the success they can have by following my example.”
Elizabeth is grateful for Adventist schools that have prepared her to live a life of influence among her Maasai people. Our mission offerings and Thirteenth Sabbath Offerings help these schools reach young people in all walks of life, including Maasai girls in the heart of eastern Africa. Thank you.
Elizabeth Kimongo will soon complete her studies and return to her village to work for her people and share God’s love among them.
Our life's journey is determined by how we align ourselves to God's will and not by circumstances or culture. God is indeed being seen in Maasailand
Elizabeth is so very courageous. May God continue to watch over her and Bless all her agricultural projects. May her crops flourish as she gives the glory back to God.
I also be thankful to God for giving as a person like Elizabeth and I continue to ask God to Have more Elizabeth be born...The Idea give me more encouragement in life specifically to a farmer and me too as a farmer...this Idea come into my big question that why are most people wants to leave in the city to seek for greener pasture which now a days cities are more crowded compared to farm area in which procurement of foods is more healthy and cleaned compared to the place where they leave now for you can say the foods they buy in a supermarket or superstore are not 100% cleaned....We need people now who can produce foods that are being process in a natural planting which Gods wants us to eat and will aids to our future generation healthy and continue to Glorify the almighty God. We neglect to serve God for we make our self a servant to a big companies rather than make used of the land that God give us...is it wonderful that we use the things which our creator made it?????????????????????remember we have only one creator and it is written if thou you love me you love my father and seek ye first the kingdom of God and all the things will be added to you
all praise be unto God. Do your best and God almighty will do the rest. 🙂