History Of The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission

The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission was founded in 1948 by Maxton Davis Strong and his wife, Shirley. It is a non-denominational Christian mission. Maxton Strong had been a professor of Agricultural Engineering at the Allahabad Agricultural Institute in India, previous to this, having come from the USA with the American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. But seeing the need of practical “hands on” agricultural training for aspiring young farmers, he acquired 160 acres of good fertile land along the foothills of the Himalayas, which was being offered on a permanent lease by the Indian Government.

Having been to the USA and raised funds for some equipment, he, his wife Shirley, and their three children, Jack, Maxine, and Jay, returned to India by ship along with the equipment. They landed in Bombay with a John Deere tractor, a four wheeled trailer, a two wheeled threshing machine, and some other equipment. They assembled the tractor, which had come in parts, on the Bombay docks and started driving up country. Along with them was over 5 tonnes of equipment and a couple of young Anglo-Indian men, they were heading for Banbassa, way up on the Western boarder of Nepal. The entire trip by tractor was over 3000km and took several weeks. Shirley and the children travelled up by train and met him at Banbassa.

 

The country was wild and unpopulated, largely because of the deadly effects of malaria. For the first few months the little family lived in a US army surplus tent. The month of May is very hot (between 35-50°C), but the shade of a large mango tree helped a lot. Wild animals of many kinds lived around them and as the children grew they learned to respect, but not be afraid of most animals and acquired a love for the wild. There were tigers, leopards, many kinds of deadly snakes, monkeys, large iguana lizards, various types of deer, wild pigs and elephants. Hunting was a way of life in those days and there were very few restrictions on what could be shot. Life was hard, the diet limited, and wild meat was appreciated for the table.

 

There were a few primitive tribal people called Tharus in the vicinity, who befriended them and taught them the ways of the wild animals. Later some land was given to the Tharu people and the mission assisted them in setting up housing and agricultural undertakings to help them earn a living.

Maxton and Shirley’s oldest son, Jack, died of a fever in the early years, and years later their younger son, Jay, also died in a tractor accident. During those early years they also had two more daughters, Carol and Rebecca, who eventually returned to the USA to live.

Over the years the mission has gradually evolved into a farm home for destitute and orphaned children. The mission attempts to be as self supporting as possible with crop production, fruit orchards, a dairy, fish ponds and a bio gas plant (for cooking).

 

When Maxton’s daughter, Maxine, had grown up, she fostered seven small children, more or less adopting them as her own. Still people kept asking for help for other orphaned or unwanted babies. The need for a nursery was great, so in 1973 they built a small nursery with about six babies in mind, but before it was finished there were twelve small children on the waiting list. They took in babies of any age, even one day old. A lot of the children, though fairly healthy themselves, came from leprosy affected families, and were at risk of contracting leprosy if left in that environment.

 

Informal attempts were made to give the children some basic education, but there was no proper school. The young people learned practical skills, like cooking, housework, childcare, farm work, and some mechanics.

In 1976 a young agricultural volunteer with an aid agency, Warwick Shipway, (more commonly known as Rick), brought a plane load of some 200 cattle to India from Australia, for crossbreeding to increase milk production. Twenty-five of these cattle were for The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission’s dairy. Rick landed in Calcutta with the cattle where they were brought up to the mission by train. When he arrived he saw the need for someone with his wide range of skills and so he stayed on to help upgrade the buildings of the dairy, and thus became part of the big family (Rick ended up staying around 10 years). He and Maxine were married in 1980 with a ready made family of seven foster children. They lived together as a family and during those years the Shipways had two daughters and a son of their own. In 1986 they had to leave India because of visa problems. With much grief they had to leave the foster children behind (the youngest was 10). The children were fitted into the dormitories with the other mission kids.

 

Rick and Maxine (along with their 3 children) returned for 3 months to India in 1995 and purchased some land to build a home for their foster children (who were grown up by this stage). Rick and Maxine worked as volunteers at the Missionary Training College in Launceston Tasmania for 18 years. Rick ran the 70 acre farm and Maxine looked after the laundry and sewing department. Their son Clifton completed his training as a Computer Engineer and worked in several Private and Government schools around Tasmania.

Shirley Strong passed away in 1993 and Maxton Strong in April 2003. The mission had been deteriorating badly in the last years of Maxton Strong’s life. In 2004 Warwick, Maxine, and their son Clifton, who was then 19 years old, returned and took on the work of building the mission up again. The children on the mission at this stage, were in a pathetic state of care. The work was full of challenges as there were massive debts and all the infrastructures such as electricity, water system, sewerage, etc, were in disrepair. There was a certain element of people who wanted the mission land for themselves and there was great opposition to the Shipways’ work, with efforts to have them ousted from India, and long legal battles over the land, and who should be the legal Board of Directors. But things have continued to improve and God has blessed the efforts.

 

The Shipways sold everything they had in Australia including their house, cars and possessions and used the money to further improve the mission and the work going on there.

At the time of writing there are about 100 children on the mission including some staff kids. All together there are about 200 people on the mission. Some of the staff work for a minimal salary and several work as volunteers. Financial support for the mission has come from loving family, friends, and church groups across the globe.

The Good Shepherd Agricultural Mission is completely privately run, no corporation or organization supports or sponsors the work.