Dr. Chip & Mrs. Jean Kingery
Founder and Director's |
Sometimes Chip Kingery wonders
if he was born in the wrong country. Although he claims the
U.S. as his birthplace, India has become his home. Growing up
in southeast Virginia, Chip never planned for a life overseas.
He studied education at the University of Richmond and later
received his Masters of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees
from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Ft. Worth,
Texas.
Chip’s first visit to Bangalore was in 1978, working as
a physical education teacher at the International School. Accepting
the position of UNICEF Associate Director in Dallas, Chip returned
to the States. In 1980 he was presented with the opportunity
to return to Asia as Field Director for World Hunger Relief,
Inc. There Chip spent six years in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh,
and India, setting up basic agricultural projects in villages
and slums, such as Darhavi in Mumbai.
During a visit to Texas in 1984, Chip met Jean James, Teacher
of the Year and head of the Fashion and Marketing Department
at Northwood University. She gave a donation to Chip’s
work, claiming that was the closest she would ever get to India.
Her contribution turned out to be an investment with big returns
-- Chip and Jean married in 1985. They moved to Bangalore in
1986, and soon Jean was more comfortable in a sari than in western
garb.
Her interest in India proved to be much more than simply fashion
focused. Chip and Jean devoted themselves to full-time village
development and vocational training, and in 1986 proVISION ASIA
was born. Soon after, so was the first Kingery baby, Keturah.
Two more quickly followed, Noah and Naomi.As the Kingery family
grew so did the proVISION ASIA family. In 1987 Munniswammy,
a young man who lost the use of his legs due to polio, appeared
on the steps of Chip and Jean’s house asking for help.
Thus began the emphasis on assisting the physically challenged.
“I was touched by his effervescent spirit, his smile,
and his desire to improve his own life,” says Chip.
Munniswammy brought family members and friends to proVISION
ASIA, and the focus slowly shifted towards the physically challenged.
He was among the first to work in the vocational training program
and achieve self-sufficiency. By the mid-nineties, proVISION
ASIA was expanding, and the work with the physically challenged
had multiplied.
Today proVISION ASIA persists in a variety of outreaches. The
vocational training continues, as does assistance to those unable
to receive proper medical care and rehabilitation. Chip and
Jean stay busy overseeing proVISION ASIA’s various units
as well as their three children, now active teenagers. Chip
is also an adjunct professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, and Jean lends her talents to Indian and American
businesses as a corporate trainer.
Even as other opportunities and circumstances vie for their
time, they remain unusually focused on their work with proVISION
ASIA.
“I love the fact that we can take those who
are outcasts and help them to become whole,” says Chip.
“There are so many people who don’t realize there
is hope for a change, and we can give them that hope.” |
