Fanta, a 6-year-old girl in Bwiam Village, Gambia, keeps her familyâÄôs few valued possessions under the simple wood frame of her bed. There, alongside pots and pans, lies a tattered shoebox full of every letter Megan Meyer has sent her family.

âÄúI usually donâÄôt hear when I write because of the cost of postage,âÄù Meyer, a University of Minnesota dental therapy student, said. âÄúWhen she showed me that box, it let me know my friendship means something, that what weâÄôre doing has value.âÄù

Meyer said connections like this keep her motivated to help Gambin people through A Hand in Health, the nonprofit organization she founded.

Her current project is a drive to send one million books to Gambi, a small African nation where there is only one book per 1,000 citizens.

A lifetime commitment

Meyer said when some of her Jewish and agnostic friends were excluded from participating in a Christian service trip her senior year in high school, she decided to organize her own trip to help communities in Mexico.

âÄúHelping others shouldnâÄôt be a religiously oriented thing,âÄù she said. âÄúIt should be a human thing.âÄù

She said the trip, where she bathed out of a bucket and lived without electricity, was her first close experience with poverty.

The trip had enough impact on MeyerâÄôs life to cause her to return to the Mexican orphanage two more times, and planted the seed for a future in international service work, Meyer said.

At Carleton College, where she completed her undergraduate degree, she received the Service Initiative Fellowship, a grant that funded a summer-long service trip abroad.

A friend suggested Meyer go to Africa. At that time, she was beginning to develop an interest in health care. When Meyer was placed in Sulayman Junkung General Hospital in Bwian Village, it felt like the culmination of everything she was seeking at the time.

For three months, she slept on a cot in an empty wing of the hospital with limited access to electricity and no running water.

During that trip, she said she experienced a series of âÄúpowerful momentsâÄù that compelled her to take action to provide resources to the country.

âÄúA lot of my job while I was there was to hold hands and soothe patients,âÄù she said. âÄúSometimes they would wake up in the middle of surgery because we didnâÄôt have enough anesthetic.âÄù

At the hospital, she saw death and live birth for the first time, and watched surgeries performed by candlelight when the electricity failed.

âÄúThe hardest part was knowing peopleâÄôs lives would have been saved had they been born in the States where IâÄôm from,âÄù she said. âÄúAfter seeing stuff like that, itâÄôs really hard to ignore it âÄî you canâÄôt just go back.âÄù

A Hand in Health is born

Meyer said she had long conversations with the CEO of the hospital under mango trees as they sipped attaya, a traditional West African tea.

During one conversation, she asked what he would do with the hospital if he had unlimited resources. His answers propelled her vision for A Hand in Health, the nonprofit organization she founded in 2006 upon returning to the U.S. after her first trip to Gambi.

Since then, A Hand in Health âÄî which now consists of Meyer and more than 20 volunteers âÄî has partnered in a series of successful initiatives, such as installing solar panels at the hospital where she volunteered and project Muunoo Smile, which provided dental outreach, supplies and treatment to hundreds of Gambians.

âÄúWe have a lot of physical resources to give [the village],âÄù Ryan Olson, A Hand in Health board member, said.  âÄúBut they have given us so much more âÄîan incredible perspective for the world and appreciation of life.âÄù

Making a difference

In April, Meyer, 26, will be an exhibition speaker at the very competitive Clinton Global Initiative University, where college students from around the world will develop ideas to tackle international issues.

She said she will present on the nonprofitâÄôs most recent project: Installing the first public medical library in Gambia in the Sulayman Junkung General Hospital.

As workers at the hospital used their time off to help unload the 7,500 books A Hand in Health and another local nonprofit, Books for Africa, had sent, they expressed their desire to provide books for their children.

A Hand in Health took that desire as a cue to begin the drive for 1 Million Books for Gambia.

Meyer is partnering with Books for Africa for the project.

âÄúShe is a student herself, and nonetheless devotes a great deal of time and energy into harnessing resources for other students,âÄù Carole Patrikakos, the development associate for Books For Africa, said.

Dreams for the future

Meyer is the class president of the UniversityâÄôs first class of students in the dental therapy program, which will graduate this spring.

The program provides dental training to professionals who will focus their practice on low-income, underserved populations, Dr. Karl Self, director of the Division and Program in Dental Therapy, said.

âÄúI think Megan is going to be an outstanding asset to the new program,âÄù Self said. âÄúShe has an obvious passion for helping underserved people âĦ and I think sheâÄôs just an all-around great person.âÄù

Meyer hopes to practice dental therapy part-time in the Minneapolis area and devote the rest of her energy toward her growing nonprofit.

After completing her dental education, she will pursue a masterâÄôs degree in public health with concentration on global studies. 

Meyer plans to return to Gambi for the fourth time next January.

âÄúI think I will be international for the rest of my life in terms of going and coming [from Gambi],âÄù she said. âÄúI canâÄôt let go of this.âÄù

Olson, a high school friend of MeyersâÄô who returned to Bwiam Village with her for a service trip, said when he first walked through the village with her, he âÄúcould tell that she was at home.âÄù

âÄúItâÄôs amazing to go back with her and walk through the village,âÄù Olson, who is a graduate student at the Clinton School of Public Service, said. âÄúThe people have an incredible relationship with her âÄî every one of them. She believes in them and they believe in her.âÄù