"The terrible poverty and injustice together with the need to do something to remedy this situation, developed my religious vocation."

Maryknoll Sister Elsie Monge's work has been wide and varied. She served as a teacher on both Primary and Secondary levels in both Guatemala and Panama, and has been noted for her excellent and tireless work for Human Rights in Ecuador.

Sister Elsie Monge was born in Quito, Ecuador. After her primary and secondary studies in La Inmaculada in Guayaquil, Sister went to Nazareth Academy in Kentucky for two years and then to Nazareth Junior College until 1952. She entered the Maryknoll Sisters Congregation in 1954. She earned a B.E. from Maryknoll Teachers College in 1958 and was assigned to Jacaltenango, Guatemala, where she taught grades 4 and 5. The following year she was assigned to Huehuetenago where she was again involved in Primary education and served as secretary to the local Bishop.

In 1964 Sister Elsie taught at the Colegio San Vicente, Santiago Veraguas, Panama. Four years later she was responsible for coordinating a pedagogical team, implementing Paolo Freire's ideas by radio. In 1972 Sister Elsie served as coordinator for the El Salvador /Nicaragua /Panama Region of the Maryknoll Sisters. Until 1980, she worked in Rural Community Development in Ecuador. She served on the Ecumenical Commission for Human Rights (CEDHU) in Ecuador in 1981, becoming its executive director in 1994.

Then in 1996, Sister Elsie became President of FEDHU, the Human Rights National Network in Ecuador. In 2004,  she received a Nobel Peace Prize nomination and was very happy that it was a collective nomination naming 1,000 women around the world who are working for peace.

Sister Elsie was named "Woman of the Year" in Ecuador in 2005.