Mitt barnehjem: Support CRIBS Foundation Manila

Hannah Roenhovde is organising this fundraiser.

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Dear all,

For those who don't already know who I am, my name is Hannah. Please read ahead to hear about how CRIBS Foundation, in Manila, Philippines, along with my wonderful parents, changed the course of my life for the better. Using this page, I hope to start giving back in order to help some of the children who are currently less fortunate than myself and any of us.

I'm Hannah. I'm 32 years old. I'm currently getting my Ph.D. in Bergen, Norway. I love dogs, potato chips, and the TV show Friends. I was raised in Norway by two incredible Norwegian parents. Most people know me as being Norwegian.

What a lot of people may not know about me is that I was born in the Philippines and came to Norway when I was adopted just before my second birthday.

Up until l now, I've lived an extremely safe, meaningful, exciting life in Norway and the US, filled with SO much love and care from my family and friends. I've achieved many great things, both personally and professionally, and I am incredibly blessed in countless ways.

When I look back over my story so far and look ahead toward all that I dream about for my future, the one indisputable fact is that absolutely none of it would be possible if it were not for CRIBS Foundation Inc in Manila. Cribs is a wonderful organization that has ensured that my life took its first steps towards arriving at this point in my journey. For this, I am forever grateful. As an orphan who was abandoned at the hospital shortly after birth, CRIBS took me in and cared for me, together with my foster family, up until the very moment that my parents came to bring me home to Norway.

As David and I are making a trip down to Manila in November, this will be my first trip to the Philippines since coming to Norway 31 years ago. My biggest hope for this trip is to be able to give something back to the organization that enabled my safe, fulfilling, and happy life to be possible. I know very well that not every child was (or is) as lucky as I have been. CRIBS is still doing a critical and priceless job taking care of both children and teens in need, serving as an orphanage (ages 0-4) and as a place for rehabilitating the frightening number of sexually abused young girls (ages 7-17).

This project is incredibly important to me because the number of orphans in the Philippines is significant. This is due to many factors, including poverty, teen/pre-teen pregnancy, lack of education, and natural disasters. To date, CRIBS' "Receiving Home" has come to the aid of 2,067 children, and their "New Beginnings Program" has improved the lives of 730 female victims of sexual abuse. Currently, the home can house up to 25 children, and they took in three newborns this very week (start of August 2022).

CRIBS is an organization that relies on external support. They issue monthly shopping lists that ask for everything from eggs and multivitamins, to glue and paper, to bigger items such as laptops and washing machines. In addition, they have programs whereby you can sponsor the education of a child or donate to some of their other development projects as and when they are happening.

I hope to help them in any way I can during our trip to visit them at the start of November. I will undertake my first ever Sprint Triathlon in September (I have had to learn to freestyle swim, and ride a road bike!)

Of course, this is a commitment that I will make for life, but the first step in giving back to the people that helped me, and trying to help those who started life as I did, begins here.