Applying to Columbia, John Hopkins and Harvard Schools of Public Health - Essay Example

 My interest in Public Health has remained to be the greatest paradigm shift in my life. At my tender age as a child born in Sierra Leone with a big amount of diamond, I had always envisioned myself becoming a great diamond evaluator. However, this was short-lived. January 1996 has remained embedded in my memory when rebels of the revolutionary United Front attacked the capital city, Freetown.

My uncle in his bid to locate my grandmother was accused of being a rebel and this translated to his being shot three times in the abdomen and left for dead. People who knew him took him to the hospital and on getting the information; I hurriedly went to the hospital. The hospital was crowded with wounded people with no one to assist them. The military in their attempt to solve the situation decided that some of the patients were to be dumped in the Sierra Leone River. I watched powerlessly as my uncle gasping for his life and other patients were loaded into a lorry ready for transportation to the river.

I wished there were more doctors, maybe my uncle’s life could have been saved, and that was when I realized I wanted to commit the rest of my life to save other peoples’ lives. My family relocated to Guinea as the war intensified and my passion was evident as I worked for the International Community of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1998. Our aim was to locate refugees from Sierra Leone and Liberia with gunshot wounds, amputees, elderly, sick, and pregnant women, and take them to Satellite clinics commandeered by ICRC.

It was during this time that I was able to observe the disparity in the health care system at the military hospital and at the satellite, clinics ran by ICRC. It dawned on me that not only did I want to become a Doctor but also I wanted to acquire health management knowledge and skills. This is why I am interested in pursuing a Master in Public Health, Health Management, and Policy at John Hopkins and Harvard Schools of Public Health in Columbia. In the public health department, I am interested in management and policy tracks.