Janet Parsons
Janet Parsons’ life began in the American Midwest but was profoundly changed by an early-years’ experience of teaching in war-torn Southeast Asia. After completing a Master’s Degree in International Education at Indiana University, she returned twice to Asia.
Then began a decades-long encounter with Africa. In Botswana, she focused on mid-19th Century missionary life that brought Mary Livingstone out of obscurity in The Livingstones at Kolobeng. She followed this with an interest in Afrikaner missionary outreach that yielded a study of the little-known partnership between Dutch Reformed and Scots Presbyterian missionaries in the development of Nyasaland-Malawi.
More recently, she has trained in cross-cultural mission in South Africa and worked among the homeless of The Cape. Following a Master’s in World Mission, she taught in a Christian college in Southwestern Uganda, where she developed an archive at the locus of the East African Revival. She also initiated a fire-safety programme, the first in an educational institution in Uganda.
Her interests include contemporary cross-cultural workers in mission – their contributions, experiences and perspectives.