Missionaries leave mark on agriculture, education

Key points:

• With a shared faith in God and a love for Africa, Larry and Jane Kies dedicated over 30 years to agriculture and education in The United Methodist Church in Zimbabwe.
• Larry Kies achieved productivity at the church’s Nyadire Farm, which provided affordable agricultural produce to the mission and local community.
• The Kieses’ service has been especially rewarding as some of their students have served as missionaries after being inspired by them.

A recollection of The United Methodist Church’s development of agriculture and education in Zimbabwe over the past 30 years would be incomplete without mentioning Larry and Jane Kies.

Starting in 1994, the two United Methodist Board of Global Ministries missionaries, who retired in June, played a pivotal role at the church’s Nyadire Mission and Africa University. They provided invaluable knowledge to students and ensured church land was well utilized and realized its full potential.

“During Larry’s time as farm manager at Nyadire, the farm was revived and served the local community with products such as meat, milk, yogurt — and even as far as Mutoko center, about 22 kilometers (14 miles) away,” said the retired Rev. George S. Magamba. “The farm ended up supplying beef to Harare (about 140 kilometers, or 87 miles away).” Magamba served as Mutoko Mudzi district superintendent from 2000 to 2005. 

“(Larry) Kies made Nyadire community life cheaper by providing affordable farm produce,” Magamba added. “He was easy to work with; he was open to new ideas and worked together with the local community in a manner that encouraged development. His wife, Jane, was very supportive to the work of her husband.”

Larry Kies remembers growing up in Iowa, one of 11 children, “with a very mission-minded mother and farming father. I came to Africa as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1976 after graduating from Iowa State University,” he said. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Iowa State and a master’s in vegetable crops from the University of California (Davis).

“As an undergraduate,” he said, “I met and was inspired by Dr. Norman Borlaug who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in advancing the Green Revolution, which resulted in large increases in crop yields. I felt called to come to Africa to work with local educators in training young people to grow more food for a hungry continent.

“While teaching high school agriculture in Botswana, I encountered a UMC missionary, Lloyd Schaad, who had started a farm and large garden at Maun Secondary School, which was partly supported by the Zimbabwe UMC. I became a missionary not long after taking Lloyd’s place when he retired.”

Larry and Jane married in 1986, and their four children were born in Africa — Ben and Andrew Pule in Botswana, Carly Nyasha and Michael Simbarashe in Zimbabwe.

“I left Botswana in 1991 for graduate school in California,” Larry Kies said. “Fellow missionary Al Streyffeler had come to Maun to celebrate his 50^th birthday, and after seeing the success of the Maun Secondary School farm, he encouraged Bishop Christopher Jokomo to request that I come to Zimbabwe after my graduate studies were completed.”

In 1994, Zimbabwe experienced a severe drought, so the first year of managing the farm was difficult. “The conference office, as well as the Nyadire Teachers College, were supportive with short-term finance,” Kies said, “and by 2001, the farm was on a solid financial footing, providing food to the mission institutions so that they could focus on their own ministries.”

Highlights of his tenure at Nyadire included developing facilities to produce and market yogurt and sour milk, which were branded with the United Methodist cross-and-flame emblem, and sponsoring maize field days so that local farmers could compare maize varieties from different companies. Nyadire Mission comprises a hospital, primary and secondary schools, Home of Hope (children’s home), a teachers’ college and farm.

Larry and Jane Kies left Nyadire in 2001 so that Larry could assist in improving the productivity of the Africa University farm in Zimbabwe. As an agriculture lecturer and technical advisor, he was tasked with helping the farm develop so that it could provide hands-on learning to students in agriculture and other careers.

 “At a recent graduation ceremony,” Larry Kies said, “I was deeply moved when a master’s graduate thanked me for how I helped her to learn how to milk a cow when she was an undergraduate in accounting in 2003. She won the award for best accounting student that year, and the fact that the class whiz kid had such a fond memory of her work-study left a lasting impression on me.”

Kies said he loved helping students gain skills and confidence during class and overcome their fears, handling chicks, piglets and even big cattle. He treasured seeing students’ faces light up when they drove a tractor for the first time and savored the joy of harvesting a crop produced by their own hands.

“Also rewarding,” he said, “is seeing former students become successful in their vocations and later becoming colleagues. Especially encouraging is to hear from those who have felt called to ‘feed the hungry’ (as mandated in Matthew 25) by becoming missionaries, promoting agricultural development in foreign countries.”

Highlights of over two decades at Africa University included interacting with children and staff at the neighboring United Methodist Fairfield Children’s Home, and witnessing the success as some made their way in the world, including graduating from and later working at Africa University.

Kies also enjoyed sharing in the lives of colleagues. “Working, living and worshipping together, comforting during times of loss, but also celebrating joyous occasions — including dancing together,” he recalled.

“Since part of our roles here involved traveling in the U.S. to promote the university, I cherish the deep friendships formed during those trips, and am thankful that I could serve as a bridge for people in the USA who wanted to support students with scholarships, and the development of the AU Farm.”

At Africa University, he enjoyed the mix of students from different African countries and was inspired by seeing many focusing on their goals of achieving a good education despite coming from extremely disadvantaged backgrounds.

“I think the most important Zimbabwean value to take to the USA is that of Ubuntu (‘I am because we are’),” Larry noted, “since many people in the USA tend to be individualistic (although we certainly have met numerous people who are community-minded).”

Although he said he is uncertain about his retirement journey, he is confident in God’s guidance. “As they say in Setswana (Botswana’s local language),”  he said, “Go itse Modimo (God knows), but he hasn’t told me yet!”

Serving God in Africa

Jane Knox Kies, the eldest in a family of four girls, was born in Ndola, Zambia. “I have a Scottish/English heritage,” she said, “so I spent some of my early years living in the UK and most in Zambia and Botswana.

“I always knew I wanted to live and serve God in Africa,” she continued. “After university, I taught in a small mission school in Uganda and loved it. After more training, I applied to go back to Botswana, where I met Larry. We had a shared faith in God and a love for Africa, so working in agriculture and education within the church alongside others seemed very natural.”

About the major highlights of her service at Nyadire Mission and Africa University, Jane Kies said, “I am very thankful for so much interaction with young people. At Nyadire, the Scripture Union camps gave us the opportunity to spend time with students outside the classroom. We were also raising our own children, so it was an educational experience for us all. We certainly felt loved and cared for by the mission community.

She said working with colleagues teaching intensive English at Africa University was a highlight. “I learned so much. The students were vibrant in their diversity. Our classes would sometimes consist of students from as many as six or more different African countries.

“I believe Africa will always be our home, though we may make a home elsewhere. We value our friendships with people both in the church and community. Memories of our children growing up in Botswana and Zimbabwe are mostly happy ones. There were, of course, many challenges and lots of tears.

“We will always get excited about sharing sadza and nyama (stiff cornmeal porridge served with beef) with Zimbabweans. We’ve been fortunate to explore many beautiful places in southern Africa. God asks us all to plant seeds. He sends the rain, and I’m thankful for the ways he has allowed us to serve him so far,” she said.

The Rev. Judy Y. Chung, executive director for missionary service at Global Ministries, said the Kieses have been dedicated to God’s mission as missionaries in Africa since 1985. 

“They especially have a big heart for young people, empowering and teaching them to become leaders for the future of the church and the world,” Chung said. 

“I have come to appreciate Larry and Jane more as I have met and worked with some of their former students and how they recall the impact the Kieses have made in their lives. I am thankful for their servant leadership and pray for God’s blessings for them as they transition into their next phase of life and ministry.”

Chikwanah is a correspondent for UM News based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

News media contact: Julie Dwyer at (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digests.