David Livingstone

Hi, friends! 'Tis the second post of the week and I have my music and tea, and I'm ready to write! Last week I wrote about Pope Francis in an attempt to get away from bible characters. You guys deserve some diversity in these posts. Today is David Livingstone. Enjoy!

David Livingstone was born in Scotland on March 19th, 1813 (good month to be born in). He started working at a cotton mill when he was ten years old, as his family was quite poor. He was 23 when he began to study medicine and theology. Finally, in 1841, he went to the Kalahari desert in Africa (mostly covering Botswana and Namibia). A few years later, he married Mary Moffat (very popular British last name), the daughter of a fellow missionary. They had six children.

One time, he set up camp to rest, when he saw there was a young native girl hiding under his wagon. He invited her over and gave her some food. She told him she was an orphan, living with her sister until she died. She was taken in by another family, but left when she found out that they wanted to sell her to a chief to be a slave wife. Livingstone looked up and saw that a native, armed with a rifle, had come to claim the poor child and take her back to slavery. While she told her story, a native man with a rifle came to bring her back to slavery. David couldn't just leave her to this fate, but what could he do? Well, one of his companions, named Pomari, knew what had to be done. He took the beads that the girl was wearing, and gave them to the man. After a bit of persuasion, he took them and left. David took care of the girl until they were safely out of the area. It may be because of this that he started fighting against slavery.

David Livingstone may be better known as an explorer to the rest of the world. He is believed to be the first European to see Victoria Falls, which he named after Queen Victoria. He discovered many more things about Africa that Europe had no idea about. Mostly lakes.

David is an inspiration. He is probably one the most well known missionaries in history, there was even a movie about him. He was a missionary, explorer and liberator. He changed lives and went out like Jesus said to in Matthew 28:19. He really did make a difference.

Sarah