Johanna Erkens
From:
Philippines / Germany
Joined GLOBE:
2018
Field:
Manila, Philippines
Project Number
Please always include with your donation!
From:
Philippines / Germany
Joined GLOBE:
2018
Field:
Manila, Philippines
Please always include with your donation!
I was born in the slums of Manila in 1990 and became a street child as soon as I could walk. The first four years of my life were spent barefoot under the bridges of Manila.
It was when my birth mother died of tuberculosis that a local street kids ministry noticed us and wanted to help. Out of this situation, I was taken in as a foster child together with my two younger siblings by a German missionary couple who later legally adopted us. For the first time in my life I experienced being able to eat until I was satisfied, had a safe place to sleep and most of all, I was loved and taken care of.
I was already five years old when I finally learned how to speak. Due to severe ear infections I was almost deaf but a few surgeries helped me to regain my hearing. I learned to speak fluently in German and English and I picked up Tagalog (the Philippines’ native tongue) from the kids around me.
My parents were long term missionaries in the Philippines and worked mainly among street kids. They pioneered a family-oriented home for street children/runaways and reached out with the gospel to their families. I grew up in that Christian community and went to an international school. As a family of five, we always had enough privacy and I felt safe and loved.
The plight of poor and neglected children has moved me since my teenage years. After I graduated from highschool, I was an intern in an elementary school for kids from squatter areas. After that, I spent some years in Germany doing the following: I worked in a kindergarten, for families in need and as an intern in a hospital.
The deeper my relationship with God grew, the deeper I felt the desire to work with little kids in the Philippines who nobody cares for. The Philippines has one of the highest birth rates worldwide. Many of the poor children are neglected and/or end up in the streets like I did. My heart burns for these kids.
That’s why I returned to the Philippines in 2017 and am presently working in a home that cares for neglected children. I also love to visit slum areas to tell the kids about our hope in Jesus and about the God in heaven who knows their name.