Graduate / Tanzania has changed me into a new person - MPH Statement of Purpose from International Student [4]

Hi,

i am applying for an MPH and need some help with my essay, not finished yet but feeling likr it is missing it's ..special something!

thank you so much in advance :)

It was late evening at Ngare Nanyuki High School, a small boarding school isolated from urban infrastructure, located in rural Northern Tanzania, where me and five other German students were studying for four weeks in the summer of 2008. A power generator was buzzing afar, a sole source of electricity to provide the school's classrooms with light in order for the students to study even after sunset. I was sitting outside one of these rooms with a newfound friend, a young girl only a few years older than myself, when she suddenly started to sob uncontrollably. As her tears subsided and she started to speak, her voice trembled with fear. I began to fathom the magnitude of her words when she told me that she recently had unprotected sex with another student and was now afraid of a possible pregnancy or infection with HIV. In an intent to comfort her, I leaned in for a hug, but my friend quickly jerked away. Although aware of the disease, she did not know that it cannot be transmitted through skin-on-skin contact.

My friend's sexual activity and possible pregnancy defied the strict Tanzanian principles which the High School obeyed. Due to the implicit understanding that premarital sex is a taboo, there is little possibility to openly discuss sexual issues. Hence, the school unfortunately failed to be a source of support and education on reproductive health issues during its adolescent students time of sexual development and curiosity. Unlike my Tanzanian peers, I was provided with thorough sexual education throughout Middle School and grew up in a society where easy access to contraceptives and testing for sexually transmitted diseases is the status quo. I myself had taken all this for granted and my own ignorance and privileges overwhelmed me with feelings of guilt and embarrassment. In agreement with the Tanzanian students, our group took on the role of a neutral entity and reached out to the school's faculty to initiate a discussion about possible sexual education classes that would be culturally sensitive but also successfully target the students' reproductive health needs.

When I boarded the plane headed towards Tanzania, my adolescent self had no prescience that I would return a changed person determined to dedicate my academic and professional life to become a problem solver and serve other communities and its individuals in need. As a Social and Cultural Anthropology major, I was able to satisfy my persistent interest in different ethnicities while my coursework has equipped me with an extensive open-mindedness of people's backgrounds, cultures and their traditions. As a volunteer for the charity supporting the Tanzanian Highschool, I was able to experience that this acceptance combined with a cooperative mindset which favors the involvement of the affected people over a unilateral, detached planning and implementation process is a powerful tool and crucial for the lasting success of a behavioral and health promotion program. This trait was also a successful asset to my work as a Disaster Services Intern with the American Red Cross in Pittsburgh where I was introduced to the field of public mental health and its immediate and long-term effects in the face of distressing and potentially traumatizing events. The daily, in-depth interaction with Disaster victims required me to frequently perform needs assessments and to propose individualized recovery plans which did not only successfully target the urgent, disaster-caused needs but also ensure continuity and provide sufficient, long-lasting social and emotional resources and support.

I further explored the facets of Public Health in the winter term of my sophomore year during Professor Dr.xyz 'The Anthropology of Reproduction' class which provided me with comprehensive content knowledge on the American obstetric system and its medicalization of childbirth. Hereby, the dichotomy between evidence-based-research and prevalent forms of practice, especially the increasing numbers of Cesarean Sections and its causes and effects, sparked my interest and quickly turned into a passion for the field of Maternal and Child Health. Consequently, for my Bachelor's thesis, I chose to explore the effect continuous labor support in the form of a Doula can have on the birthing result of a woman who pursues a vaginal birth after a Cesarean Section (VBAC). I conducted qualitative interviews with numerous Doulas who serve the xxx area and provided their former clients with an online survey consisting of qualitative and quantitative questions. This combination allowed me to gather profound data which showed that the prenatal, postpartum as well as continuous intrapartum support provided by Doulas can be associated with the positive and successful outcome of the trial of labor after a previous surgical delivery. However, I found the stigmatization of mothers who feel unsatisfied, distressed or even traumatized by a previous birthing experience especially striking. The positive impact a Doula can hereby have on the mental well-being of an expectant mother is undeniable and highlights the often overlooked social, emotional and environmental facets of childbirth. I am driven to further explore these determinants to identify protective factors against poor birth outcomes including maternal trauma and depression as well as infant morbidity and mortality. Both Dr. xxx and Dr. yyy research addressing maternal and child health, and especially the high infant mortality rate in Allegheny County as a multi-pronged challenge is very appealing to me and I am confident that I could successfully contribute to their work.