Student SPHere 2008-09

My name is Bintou Coulibaly. I am originally from Mali in West Africa. My native language is Bambara and I speak fluently French. I graduated from Medical school in 1993 in Mali. I Mali I worked in OB-GYN and I always was interested in child and maternal health.
Mali is one of the poorest countries in the world. Women and girls in Mali don’t have much freedom like in all developing countries. The female genital cutting is still practiced in Mali. The government is trying to stop it, but the cultural believe is so strong in Mali that people are still hiding to do it. Girls are web sometimes at the 13,14,15years. The government limited the age of marriage at 18 for girls, but people don’t respect it. Since women and girls don’t have voice, a14 years girl will find herself marry a 30 or 40 years man. These early marriages have a lot of negative consequences in these girls life. Sometimes the pregnancy end up with it complications, because of immaturity of the body. Socioeconomic and psychological damages accompany this situation.
Maybe some of you have heard about genital fistulas. They can be vagino-rectal or vesico-rectal. In Mali near the school of medicine, it is one small village that was created by women who were troughs out by they families because they have fistula. These fistulas are one of the complications of childbirth. They are marginalized from the rest of the society because they smell bad. I am talking about these entire situation in my country, because that is why I am today in the school of public health. I want to advocate for my sisters in Mali and other places in the world were they have been marginalized. I want to be able to make a change in their daily life of suffering. To do that, I need to learn the tools of public health.
The school of public health at the University of Minnesota offers so much in the field, that sometimes I dream with my eyes open. I can see myself going to all over those developing countries, teaching and helping women in child and maternal health, teaching girls how to protect themselves against, early pregnancy, STD and HIV/AIDS.
I am actually in the program of core concepts program. I am applying for the child and maternal and health program, because the program is very good and I know after doing that I will be able to accomplish my dream. I like the environment of the campus. I learn a lot from the core concepts program. I have a wonderful program coordinator Sarah Harper. She always guides me in this program. At any time I email her, she responded. At any time I called her, she will respond to my call. Her academic advices help me trough this program I am finishing this semester. She makes me feel at home at the school of public health. Sarah has a colleague, Ann Ehrenberg. When Sarah is absent Anne is always disponible to answer my questions. She welcomes you with a beautiful smile that makes your day to go smooth at school. I also like the sphere, where I met many others international students. The student center with all it cultural program is so good for all of us whose from outside the country. I pray every to be accepted in the program of child and maternal health, because I like the program and the safe environment of the University of Minnesota.