Academic Update
After teaching at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp for a third session of the Public Health course, I am reminded of the quote, "For it is in giving, that we receive." (St. Francis of Assisi). So too has been this most recent course. Over the past five weeks, 28 students from Boston, Washington, and Moi University conducted an end-line evaluation of the Trachoma Integrated Project in the Loitokitok District of Kenya. In this region in 2004, trachoma, a preventable, bacterial infection that causes blindness, was found in 23% of children and blinding trachoma has been in ~4% of adults in the district. Over the past three years, the Ministry of Health implemented a wide-scale effort to reduce trachoma burden in the district. The evaluation was completed through surveys of 501 households, 124 clinical assessments, and 17 focus group discussions. As with all public health programs, monitoring and evaluation of the program objectives is essential to have evidence-based programming of what works and what does not.

On Monday, the students presented their findings to over 50 community members and the public health officers from the Ministry of Health in Loitokitok. It was an amazing learning opportunity for the students to provide scientific data in a format that was understandable and accepted. It is a skill-set often difficult to achieve, but these students did it with flair. With question and answer sessions after their presentation, the students were able to explain trachoma, the methods of prevention and the importance of education. Additionally, they were able to share their findings with the Ministry of Health officials to help the program improve as it expands into two neighboring districts. Through the giving of a community presentation, it is the students who receive the powerful experience of public health in the field.
- Katherine Semrau, Ph.D., MPH, Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Public Health

Student Reflection
The work we have been doing in Kenya has been extremely challenging, yet equally rewarding. We spent eight days in the field collecting 501 surveys and conducting 17 focus groups about trachoma as well as water and sanitation. Trachoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. Data collection from surveyed households, entry, and analysis took up a great portion of our time. An intensive teaching on statistical analysis gave us the skills necessary to make use of the data we collected. Without help from my fellow SFS peers, I could not have made it through this rigorous portion of the program. However, the driving factor for all of this work is the information which we were able to give to the community during our presentation.  

From the moment I introduced the presentation with Karibuni (the Swahili word for welcome all), our findings were extraordinarily well received. Looking out into the crowd and seeing our neighbors nodding their heads as we told them how to prevent trachoma made all the hard work and long nights worthwhile. To close the discussion, we heard responses from community representatives, one from the women and one from the men. Both groups resounded with thanks, compliments on our work, and gratefulness to our team for conveying knowledge on trachoma, as well as pertinent issues in the district such as water and latrine access. Our greatest team achievement is knowing that good information would be carried on to the rest of the community to help prevent trachoma. As the program comes to a close I know that my work here has made a difference. Looking at my new SFS family I am reminded of a quote by Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does."
- Alexander Musallam, Boston University

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