Jimu news reporter Li Bowl rong
Correspondent Liu Jin Yi Jun
On September 30, the award ceremony of the Chinese Government Friendship Award was held in the Great Hall of the People. The Chinese Government Friendship Award is the highest honor award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to China's modernization, and a total of 100 foreign experts from 32 countries have won the 2020 and 2021 Chinese Government Friendship Awards.
Sarah at the scene of the award
Jimu News reporter learned that Associate Professor Sarah, a foreign teacher at the School of Life Sciences of Jianghan University, won the 2020 Chinese Government Friendship Award. During the epidemic in 2020, Sarah refused to evacuate overseas Chinese four times, chose to stick to her homeland with the people of Wuhan, and told the story of Wuhan's fight against the epidemic to the world through the Internet. At the same time, she also actively exerted her professional expertise, established cooperation with the national authoritative platform for zoonotic diseases, and actively promoted the international anti-epidemic work. She compiled the anti-epidemic process and personal experience in Wuhan into a new book called "Good Morning, Wuhan", which was published in Italy. Sarah, who has lived in China for 14 years, has long regarded China as her second hometown, and she was very surprised by this award, saying that it is an honor and an inspiration to continue to be a messenger of friendly exchanges between China and Italy.
Sarah and her son are in Han during the 2020 pandemic
Sarah poses with the school teacher
Love Chinese calligraphy love to eat hot dry noodles 14 years in China has long been regarded as hometown
Passionate about Chinese calligraphy, drinking Chinese tea, eating Wuhan's specialty snack hot dry noodles, working and living in China for 14 years, Dr. Sara Platto and his 13-year-old son Mattee have long considered this familiar land their home. "Although I still eat Western food, I also like hot dry noodles, and they taste unique." Sarah shares.
In 2007, Sarah, who has long been committed to the conservation and research of the world's wildlife, came to China for the first time and was invited by the Institute of Aquatic Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to participate in a keynote speech on humans and dolphins. There, she met her later mentor, who became a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, and has since forged an inseparable love affair with China. "I like Wuhan a lot, and the people of Wuhan are very enthusiastic." Recalling the first time she came to Han, Sarah spoke.
In 2011, she became an associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at Jianghan University, where she taught courses in animal behavior and animal welfare. "The situation of animals also affects humans, and animal behavior and animal welfare are of great concern internationally. Students learn this knowledge, which is meaningful for learning about life sciences, environmental sciences and food safety. Sarah introduced. She called on school students to actively learn about animal behavior and animal welfare, and to help humans and animals build a bridge of harmonious coexistence and communication.
In addition to teaching and scientific research, he often uses the weekend to give lectures for the Wuhan Small Animal Rescue Center. Usually, Sarah will enjoy Wuhan food with everyone at the Chinese food party, and happily tell the legendary story of saving small animals around the world when she was young.
Despite making China her second home, Sarah returns to her hometown of Brescia, a city in northern Italy, every two or three years. There, there were Sarah's parents and sister. She has invited her family to Wuhan many times to visit her second hometown, "My parents are old and inconvenient to come to Wuhan, but a close friend of mine came to Wuhan before I came to Wuhan." My friend was very happy to hear that I was in Wuhan. ”
During the epidemic period, he refused to evacuate overseas Chinese 4 times and posted life in Wuhan on the Internet
On February 3, 2020, the authorities again informed her that she could return to China, and Sarah, who had already refused once, once again politely refused to return to Italy, where there was not a single confirmed case at the time, she said: "Wuhan is my home, I believe in China." ”
Sarah's refusal to return home made her mother very angry, and at 3 a.m. that day, she received a call from the embassy: "Your mother asked us to take coercive measures to take you on the plane." In order to reassure her parents, she kept explaining the situation in Wuhan to them on the phone.
Sara recalls her anti-epidemic experience in 2020
During the epidemic, Sara received a lot of help and love from neighbors and schools, and the foreign teacher administrators of Jianghan University sent staple foods, meat and eggs, vegetables and fruits in a timely and regular manner, and also bought her much-needed cheese from many places. Neighbors helped her sell vegetables online and brought her vegetables and pasta.
Received help during the pandemic
Feeling warm at the same time, Sara actively shared her life in Han through international social platforms and told the story of China's war epidemic, "Our Italian friends who stayed in Wuhan have a group, everyone usually shares the situation in the group, and we are very angry when we see some untrue content about the epidemic in Wuhan." Sarah recalled.
Therefore, she released the real situation of Wuhan's fight against the epidemic through international social platforms, and she kept sending pictures and video messages in Wuhan: the materials distributed by the school were stuffed with the trunk of the trolley, the food sent by the residents of the community and the heart-warming note of "Sara refueling", the community distributed love dishes, the community strictly sealed, the Wuhan recovery scene... Attracted the attention of netizens around the world. Dozens of overseas media outlets have reached out to Sarah through various channels, and she has shown people around the world her life and optimism in Wuhan on the phone and in videos. For some foreign media misunderstandings, she always tries to show up and tell them the real situation.
Later, Italy unfortunately became the hardest hit area of the epidemic, and she also gave Italian high school students a vivid lesson in epidemic education through video. She took the communication tool to show the Italian students to see the city streets of Wuhan and truly understand China's anti-epidemic measures. She also provides some advice on life during the pandemic to people in other countries through social platforms. Sarah's special experience attracted the attention of the Italian Diego Geographical Publishing Agency, and in early April, the two sides signed a contract to publish the book "Hello Wuhan", which was translated into multiple languages and distributed worldwide.
Academic advisors to the research team have contributed to China's fight against the epidemic
Sarah has long been engaged in animal behavior and animal welfare research, and has also actively used her professional advantages to contribute to the fight against the epidemic during the epidemic. As an academic advisor to some domestic research teams, she has participated in 13 research projects, one of which is to explore the relationship between the new crown pneumonia virus and a coronavirus isolated from pangolins.
As an expert in animal behavior, she has also participated in academic research related to COVID-19, established cooperation with the international authoritative platform for zoonotic diseases, and actively promoted international anti-epidemic work. Sarah also received special guidance from the Global Alliance for Rabies Control on surveillance techniques, data planning and educational tools for the epidemiological control and prevention of wild animals such as rabies. In addition, she has published a number of popular science articles on the new crown virus on social media platforms.
Sarah participates in academic activities
In years of scientific research, Sarah has actively proposed the revision of China's Wildlife Protection Law. In cooperation with the Global Rabies Control Alliance (GARC), the "Rabies Surveillance System" was created and the "Rabies Educator Qualification Certificate" Chinese course was launched. Preparation of the first "Animal Welfare: Food Safety and Human Health" seminar. She has spent many years in the community disseminating rabies prevention knowledge, conducting vaccinations and holding lecture series. Sarah continues to explore around previous research.
"Professor Sarah has contributed to the biological research and teaching of Jianghan University, and her measures during the epidemic last year have strengthened The friendly relationship between China and Italy and deepened the world's accurate understanding of China." Zhang Xingping, secretary of the party committee of Jianghan University, said that for Sara's award, he said that all the teachers and students of the school were very happy and proud of Sara.
Sarah poses with the winning international friends
For this award, Sara admitted that she was very surprised, "I don't quite believe that I won the award, but after getting the award certificate, it is very real, and it is an honor and an inspiration for me." Sarah said that she would continue to be a messenger of sino-Italian friendly exchanges and a friendly messenger of exchanges between China and the international community.
For more exciting information, please download the "Jimu News" client in the application market, please do not reprint it without authorization, welcome to provide news clues, and pay as soon as you adopt it. 24-hour reporting hotline 027-86777777.