FCA Community: Plant Manager Hopes to Bring Vocational Training to Rural Kenya

Kevin and Nancy Sell call themselves “empty nesters on a mission.”

“We’re following our hearts and how our faith drives us,” says Kevin, FCA US plant manager at Indiana Transmission Plant 1 in Kokomo, Ind. “We have been so blessed in our lives that we feel compelled to give back to others, whether it’s here in the U.S. or in Kenya.”

Through their non-profit Hearts of Hope International, their mission now is to equip residents of Kiambu County, Kenya, many of whom are HIV positive widows and orphans, with skills training by building a vocational school in partnership with the Dorcas Orphans and Widows Ministry.

“We have spent time with this community and know they are eager to provide more for their families, but lack opportunities and skills,” explains Kevin. “If we can offer vocational training, such as carpentry, dressmaking, aquaponics, farming, and so on, to the residents who are now living on less than a $1.25 a day, they can raise their income past the poverty line and provide for their families with dignity.”

Kevin and Nancy went on their first mission trip to Kenya in 2015. While there, they were moved to commit their missionary work to the impoverished area in Kiambu County located in the country’s rural central highlands.

Currently, they are scouting land to purchase with a goal to begin construction and open the vocational school in 2021. Through close partnership with indigenous leaders and community members, the 10-year plan is to transfer operational ownership to the residents.

He and his wife have four grown children, twins Katherine and Joshua, and adopted sisters, Kayla and Candace.

Together, they have done missionary work in Chicago, Detroit, Honduras and now Kenya.

To learn more about Hearts of Hope International, visit the website at https://heartsofhopeinternational.org/.

About FCA Community Stories:

FCA Community explores the efforts of FCA US employees who see a need beyond the walls of their work sites and devote energy outside their daily job to be a source of comfort and a force for change.

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