The Kingiti School Scholarship and Village Health Outreach Fund, aka The Kingiti Fund, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization consisting of project directors in the US and Tanzania that work together in the implementation of education, public health, and medical projects in central Tanzania. Our board members and US partners work for the organization strictly on a volunteer basis. Below are brief descriptions of our project directors:
Dr. Ben Belknap was a Peace Corps Tanzania volunteer living in Kingiti village from 2007-2009. As the village’s first volunteer, he was in a unique position to start 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. He co-founded The Kingiti Fund in 2008 and is now an emergency medicine physician in New York City. He serves as the director, board member, and translator for The Kingiti Fund.
Matayo Oweya is The Kingiti Fund’s public health and medical project director. Matayo lives in Mpwapwa town and operates a small business in the local market. He is a long time Peace Corps volunteer fixer and general information guru in the district. Matayo is working with the Mpwapwa District Medical Officer and the hospital leadership at the Mpwapwa District Hospital to improve medical services in the district.
Laithon Mvili was born in Usolanga village, in the Iringa region of Tanzania, to farming parents with seven other children. Though his parent’s lack of wealth was typical of many families in the area, the achievements of their children reveals the extraordinary upbringing they provided. Laithon credits his Mother’s compassion for much of the children’s success 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 village in 2003 to become the seventh grade teacher in the primary school. He enjoys managing a small retail business in Kingiti, praying at the Catholic church, and socializing in the village center when he has free time. His life has been a story of resilience and faith; on his wits he has overcome the incredible hindrances that stifle most people suffering from polio in a small farming village. Laithon Mvili is the director of The Kingiti Fund’s education project in the Kingiti Primary School, Kibakwe Secondary School, and Kigwe School for the Deaf.
Dr. Don Belknap has been a board certified emergency medicine doctor in the US for over 30 years, working primarily in community hospitals in Kentucky and New Mexico. Graduating from medical school in the early ‘80s, Don was part of one of the first classes of emergency medicine residents (University of Louisville). He has significant experience managing emergency departments, has served on the board of two hospitals in KY and NM, and has also served as director of county EMS ambulance services. When his son, Ben, was a Peace Corps volunteer he enjoyed helping out with medical supplies and thus began his work in Tanzania. Don serves as a medical project director and member of the Board of Directors for The Kingiti Fund.
Jimmy Newhall has lived and worked in Tanzania since 2007. He is currently an Infrastructure Advisor with Research Triangle Institute (RTI) assigned to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Jimmy was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania from 2007-2009 and has much experience managing small scale, village-based projects, as well as larger projects with the CDC. Since 2013, Jimmy serves as an advisor and member of the Board of Directors for The Kingiti Fund.
Dr. Mackensie (“Max”) Yore is an emergency physician whose work focuses on health equity, human connection in medicine, and the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into healthcare at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Dr. Yore serves on the Board of Directors of The Kingiti Fund, where she contributes as an advisor and educator within the organization’s Medical Training Division. With a background in global health and human-centered design, her early work focused on improving access to care for congenital anomalies. She serves as the inaugural Civic Science AI Fellow for the Center for SMART Health and the UCLA CTSI, where she conducts interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, healthcare, and civic engagement. Her research explores how AI can improve population health and strengthen understanding and empathy between patients and care teams. She has extensively studied the VA’s My Life, My Story program, examining how patient narratives can improve care quality and clinician satisfaction. Dr. Yore has also partnered with communities in California’s Central Valley to better understand the health impacts of climate change and develop community resilience strategies. Dr. Yore earned her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College, her medical degree from Stanford University, completed emergency medicine residency training at UCSF Fresno, and a fellowship through the VA/UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program. She currently continues her research on AI in healthcare as a VA Health Services Research Fellow.
