Ben Belknap was a Peace Corps volunteer living in Kingiti from 2007-2009.  As the village’s first volunteer, he was able to observe the results of introducing projects confronting a number of village issues.  His projects ranged from those focused on food production and village-based income generation to HIV/AIDS education and medical care.  In his second year of service, as a brutal drought ravaged most crops and projects alike, he focused primarily on the health and medical outreach projects he had initiated in his first year.  At this time of transition did he learn what his future career must be.  Ben currently lives in Boston, where he is a post-baccalaureate premed student applying for medical school this summer, while working at a local emergency department.  Ben serves as a project director, board member, budget writer, and translator for KSSVHOF, Inc.

Laithon Mvili was born in Usolanga village, in the Iringa region of Tanzania, to farming parents with seven other children.  Though their family’s lack of wealth was typical of many in the area, the achievements of their children reveals the extraordinary upbringing provided by the Mvili parents.  Most of the children still manage the family farm in Usolanga, however, two have become accomplished teachers and one a physician.  Laithon credits his Mother’s compassionate heart for much of the children’s success, she was herself raised as an orphan in a nearby village, as well as his Father’s strict work ethic as conveyed in the words he told his son, “One must work hard for himself or he will later be the slave of another.”  Laithon moved to Kingiti in 2003 to become the Seventh grade teacher of all subjects at the Kingiti Primary School.  He enjoys managing a retail business in Kingiti, praying at the local Catholic church, and socializing in the village center when he has free time.  Mvili’s life has been a story of resilience and faith; on his wits he has overcome the gross hindrances that stifle most children suffering from polio in a small farming village.  Of his life, he says, “It has brought many difficulties, but I succeed through perseverance and God’s blessings.”  Laithon Mvili is the main director of our primary school and secondary school education projects.

Patricia Gagne’s visit to Tanzania in June 2008 to see her former sociology student, Ben, was the beginning of a journey that would long outlast her time in the country.  During her stay in Kingiti, the student and professor discussed, almost constantly, the sociological implications of what an outsider observes in a remote Sub-Saharan village.  Pat was very affected by the abject poverty she witnessed during her visit, and upon her return to the US was determined to share what she saw with her fellow faculty members and friends.  The Kingiti Sharing Group came as a result of this first meeting, when her friend,  Carla Rich, suggested that they begin fundraising among their network of contacts.  After some correspondence with Ben, the primary and secondary school education projects were developed.  Pat owns a small farm outside Louisville, Kentucky where she enjoys her gardens and horses.  She teaches theory in the Sociology Department of the University of Louisville, working primarily with graduate students.  Pat has been managing the project finances for the last three years, as well as serving as a project director, board member, and key consultant for the organization.

Stanley Muhede was born on the outskirts of Dodoma town some fifty years ago to traditional farming parents of the Wahehe tribe.  After a brief formal education he became a pastor of the Apostolic faith and travelled much of Tanzania in his work for the church.  His work eventually brought  him to Mpwapwa town in the early 1980s where he met his wife Kristina, a woman of the Wagogo tribe.  They soon moved to Kingiti village, 25 miles South of town, to have their own farmland and raise a family.  Stanley and Kristina have six children, one of which is an esteemed upper-level secondary school student.  Stanley has retired from his appointment as a pastor, but remains an mzee (elder) of the Apostolic Church in Kingiti.  He has used his standing in the community to bring HIV/AIDS education to the village and was a key figure of all Peace Corps projects in Kingiti.  Mzee Muhede is a man of undefeatable spirit and intelligence that exudes joy and kindness every day of his life.  In many ways he is the most brilliant of men.  He serves as an education and health project director for KSSVHOF, Inc.