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Aspiring Dental Student Journeys to Serve in Tanzania

on  January 31, 2019

Through Journey to Serve, Rise Against Hunger’s partnership with Global Volunteers, an aspiring dental student and her dentist father were moved to help meet the needs of families and children in the Reaching Children’s Potential (RCP) Demonstration Project in Ipalamwa, Tanzania. What followed her first informational phone call was an impassioned appeal to her family, friends and faith community to join her in spirit and charity. Currently serving in Tanzania, we are sharing the incredible journey that got Maddy and her father where they are now!Maddy Aungst, a 22-year-old biology student in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, said the moment she read about the RCP Demonstration Project, she was motivated to help.She shares, “I found Global Volunteers on the Rise Against Hunger website, which works with my church packing food. I researched more and discovered Journey to Serve is exactly the type of volunteer opportunity I’ve been looking for. Instantly, my heart gravitated towards Tanzania. I was excited.” Prior to Journey to Serve, Maddy had been discouraged by volunteering programs that required her to have a medical license. She shared, “I’m graduating from college in May and taking a gap year before attending dental school. However, since I am not a qualified dentist or professional, a lot of volunteer programs don’t allow me to have hands-on involvement with their health care projects.”Fortunately, Volunteer Manager Diane Fredricksen assured her she could make a significant contribution through Journey to Serve in Tanzania. Initially, Maddy couldn’t imagine just how significant her impact would be.Maddy explains, “Diane was marvelous. She explained how people of Ipalamwa without access to toothbrushes just use sticks to clean their teeth. That’s when it really hit home — and how my idea for raising money to supply toothbrushes came about. After all, we here in the U.S. take so much for granted. We often forget that a simple ‘hygiene tool’ such as a toothbrush can do so much for our oral health as well as our overall health. I wanted to give the people of Ipalamwa the opportunity to improve their health and live happier lives.”As soon as Maddy registered for the Journey to Serve partnership, she launched a fundraising campaign to provide toothbrushes to the children in the village. The initial goal for “Don’t Brush It Off; Be the Change” was $1,000 to supply toothbrushes. However, after her father, an experienced dentist, agreed to join her on the service program, she knew they would have to purchase all of the equipment and supplies he would need to provide more extensive oral healthcare.Maddy explained, “My father, Dr. Bryan Aungst, is a general dentist, and was on board right away. He too had always wanted to serve on a volunteer program and was the first dentist to register to work in the new clinic. So, that’s how my fundraising goal quickly increased.”Maddy worked toward her fundraising goal by leveraging a GoFundMe page so her neighbors, church family, and community could easily donate online. She also promoted the fundraiser on social media and found other creative ways to raise money.She says, “My mom and I got involved with our neighborhood yard sale and put all the proceeds towards my campaign. I spoke at my grandparents’ church and they helped me collect $200, which is unbelievable for such a small church. The biggest success I had fundraising was reaching out to my church, the First United Methodist Church in Hollidaysburg. I spoke at all five services. Before my presentation, I had collected $2,100. After my presentation, I had raised $4,300. Unbelievable! I was absolutely amazed by the overwhelming support and encouragement.”One parishioner from Blair Gastroenterology raised $1,000 for Maddy’s effort. “You can imagine my surprise when I received the check,” she said, “So far, I’ve raised $6,010 and am still getting cash donations from my church as well as toothbrush donations from my friends.” “Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d be able to raise that much money. I didn’t think I was capable of touching the hearts of so many people. I am so overwhelmed by the love and support that my church and community have shown me. They are thrilled and eager for me to go, return, and then finally share my adventures with them.”Stay tuned for more from Maddy and her father’s time in Tanzania as they change the lives of those they are serving! To follow in Maddy’s footsteps and make your impact, visit the Journey to Serve page on our website.Story originally published by Global Volunteers.

About the Author

Jessica Hubacher has served on the Marketing team at Rise Against Hunger since September 2017. As the Marketing Communications Specialist, Jessica manages and assists with the Rise Against Hunger digital strategy.

More Posts by Jessica Hubacher

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.