Voyages

Good day!

I'm Robert James from the Philippines and I am applying for the travel scholarship. I've been doing film for 4 years now, and through traveling, people make me realize how blessed I am, and how awesome it would be for me to share their stories.

This was from the Typhoon Haiyan documentary I made. It was one of the saddest things that happened to the Philippines, and documenting it made me cry a lot. What's good about Filipinos is that they still rise amidst the challenges in life. They inspired me with their stories and always made me want to travel more and explore the world.

This may be an unusual inspiration on why I want to travel and win this scholarship, but people always move my emotions to the extent that I want to do something for them -- share their lives, let people know that they exist, and that someone always has it worse than others. I am inspired by how people deal with the hurdles of life, like for example, my documentary featured a man longing for his wife, who he may never see again, but you can see through his eyes how optimistic he is despite that.

This opportunity will enable me to learn more about film, considering the mentors that I will have. It means a lot because I believe Colombia is very beautiful and it has always been on my bucket list. This is a blessing for me, and I won't let this opportunity fly away. I've always dreamed of going to exotic places and film them, and it's going to come true if I am granted this scholarship.