In this incredibly impactful episode of Spark Change, Connie Maday shares a conversation with Dr. Anne Alaniz who is a Board certified gynecologist in Houston Texas. Dr. Anne Alaniz was born in a small impoverished village in Malawi, Africa, and is the oldest of eight siblings. At the age of 16, an ER doctor from Texas visited her village and saw Anne’s potential. The doctor, wanting to make a lasting impact, offered to host Anne for a US education. With her family’s blessing, Anne moved from Malawi to Texas where she attended high school, college and medical school. While in medical school, she held a garage sale with her friends raising $3,000 she used to buy land in the Salima District of Malawi near the village in which she grew up.

On this land, in 2012, Dr. Alaniz founded the US non-profit Pothawira International where she raised funding and subsequently built an orphanage, primary school, computer lab, farm, mill, birthing center, and outpatient health clinic – the ONLY health clinic in Daniel Village (population 10,000).

Dr. Anne Alaniz shares her life story, how she realized her purpose and the mindset she embraced to get her through the adversity and challenges in her life.

She is a true example of how one person can make a difference in the world and shares about the ripple effect when you throw a rock into the pond.

Justin Sather shares the journey of what began as his Frog Project and has turned into a movement of riding the planet of plastics.

Connie Maday from Spark Change interviews Dan Fontaine, Executive Director of Wilderness Youth Project, a non-profit working to provide nature connections for all children.

He shares the tremendous impact WYP has in their local community and how they are able to support programs guided by inspired, skilled, and committed mentors and volunteers. For WYP it is about building relationships and connecting with kids in the beautiful outdoors.

Listen to learn about what makes WYP unique.

This podcast is about reminding us of the power we each possess and celebrating the inspiring stories of change makers, tapping into ourselves to our own inner compass and get you out there changing the world.

Olivia has been selected as the Three Dot Dash Global Teen Leader, received the Gloria Barron Prize, the Diller Teen Award, Coca-Cola Scholar and has presented at the NATO Summit, NPR, and was featured in Teen Vogue, TODAY, the Economist, Forbes, to name a few.

This podcast is about reminding us of the power we each possess and celebrating the inspiring stories of change makers, tapping into ourselves to our own inner compass and get you out there changing the world.