Elaine Barnett
Elaine Barnett began her life in Africa at an early age when she traveled to Tanganyika Territory (present day Tanzania) in 1946 with her siblings and parents. It is there she trusted Christ while listening to a missionary share the gospel with a group of African children. The family returned the U.S. for medical reasons in 1949, but God used that experience to call Elaine into a lifetime of missions.
As a young adult, she joined Africa Inland Mission, meeting her future husband John at AIM’s headquarters where both were attending Candidate School.
The two were married in Kenya in 1968, and immediately took up an assignment as dorm parents for 14 lively sixth grade boys at Rift Valley Academy (RVA), a boarding school in central Kenya for the children of missionaries.
Over the years, John and Elaine served faithfully in many roles at the school. Elaine’s ministries included teaching grades 3, 4, 5, and 6, high school Bible, and managing the school cafeteria. She also started a compassion ministry called Little Lambs, ministering to widows and children at risk. Working with Kenyan partners, Elaine helped expand the ministry to five locations.
In 2007 John was diagnosed with stage four lymphoma and he passed away in September of 2008. Elaine stayed on in Kenya, continuing her work with Little Lambs until 2013, when she returned to the U.S. to live at AIM’s Retirement Center.
Today she remains active, helping out around the Center, teaching Bible studies, mentoring new believers in the community, and making visits to nursing homes.
She also makes extended trips back to Africa to visit family members and friends still serving on the field.
