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SAWBO VIDEO PORTRAIT: DR. JULIA BELLO-BRAVO
Dear SAWBO supporters,
My name is Julia Bello-Bravo and I am one of the co-founders and co-directors of Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO). The mission of SAWBO is to create educational materials in the form of animations translated into local languages and disseminate these animations through mobiles phones or any other electronic devices. My engagement in SAWBO is both personal and professional. I am originally from Spain and I grew up in small village south west of Madrid and for as long as I can remember I have had the desire to learn about and work with people from a diversity of cultures. It was this desire that drove me to move to the U.S.A. to learn English. I realized that speaking and communicating in English would open the doors for me to new global opportunities.
While I was learning English, I volunteered with the Red Cross. Then, Hurricane Marilyn hit the Caribbean and I was sent there to help. I vividly remember that three week trip! I was part of a team that was committed to helping communities and their people in the middle of a crisis. We cleaned beaches, distributed food, spoke with people that lost everything, and heard their problems and provided some comfort just by listening. That experience changed my perspective in life!
I was privileged, but life can change in a second. You could have everything and suddenly you could lose everything. I connected that experience with one of our first animations at SAWBO (Cholera Prevention). This animation was about treating water to prevent cholera and it was translated into Creole and used after the earthquake in Haiti. The same animation has been used after other earthquakes in Iran and Nepal (in local languages from those countries).
After that animation we, at SAWBO, were driven by people’s needs - health, agriculture and women's empowerment - the three core areas of SAWBO.
Personally, SAWBO has been highly rewarding for me; I travel to other countries, learn so much from other cultures, and work with them to share their knowledge globally to help others. I feel fortunate to work with others to draw a better world.
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