Helping Rhotia Valley...

The Rhotia Valley project has been very successful in the past and can expand even more with help.  There are thousands of organizations, including the Starfish Greathearts Foundation, Kiva, LifeStraw, and 46664, who are focused on ameliorating problems all across Africa, such as lack of potable water, hunger, genocide, AIDS, and malaria.  However, many charity organizations are so large that much of the money that goes into them is spent on internal affairs and bureaucracy. Through a form of "microfinancing" in Rhotia Valley, we can help  to directly influence the lives of children in need.  Click About on the navigation bar to learn more about the Five for Tanzania initiative, or click Current Projects in Rhotia Valley to zoom in on the village.

If you donate to a large charity organization, you are certainly helping them achieve their goals.  However, it is difficult to know how efficient the organization is and the impact you made is very abstract.

With microfinancing in Rhotia Valley, you can look at a map and say "there it is, the village that I am directly helping."  It is more satisfying and efficient to help people on a smaller scale.

...Through Joggling

On May 24, 2011, Matt Feldman set the Guinness world record for the fastest 5k while juggling five objects. This was a personal challenge but led to an unexpected level of publicity. 

On August 9, 2011, Matt Feldman set another Guinness world record.  This time, it was the fastest 400m while juggling five objects.  Along with this attempt, he managed to raise $900 for Rhotia Valley!  View "Sponsor Info" to learn who helped out!  You can see a clip of the event here.

Matt plans to set one more record to continue raising donations for Rhotia Valley:

-Fastest mile while juggling five objects (tentative date is September 3rd, in Gainesville)

His goal is to utilize the publicity of these record attempts in order to raise awareness for the lack of infrastructure and education that burdens the small village of Rhotia Valley, Tanzania.  Through microfinancing, I hope to help sustain the ongoing project of building children's lodge to facilitate education of the youth.