Rafonzel Fazon was born and raised in the town of Butuan in Mindanao, the Philippines – a community where poverty and cramped living conditions helped fuel high incidence of drug and alcohol abuse, violence and hopelessness.

Sometimes her father would drink alcohol for three days straight often resulting in outbursts of domestic violence. Rafonzel remembers the fear she experienced as a little girl whenever her father came home drunk, and when the sounds of people screaming and fighting in nearby houses would wake her during the night.

“As a small child I felt fear creeping inside of me. I felt insecure about myself and about our family’s situation. I had such a low self-esteem … Because earning money was a struggle for my family I taught myself never to ask for more than my parents could provide for me and my two older brothers. I remember there were times when we had to wait for our father to come home to see if he had brought something for us for dinner. If there was nothing, my mother would have to go to the neighbours to ask for help,“ recalls Rafonzel.

But hope dawned when Rafonzel was five years old and she was registered in the Compassion Child Sponsorship Program. She was eventually sponsored by an Australian woman called Kathy Green.
Through connection with the local church, Rafonzel’s entire family, including her father, came to accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

Rafonzel’s strong academic results in secondary school and her exceptional leadership abilities enabled her to be registered in Compassion’s Leadership Development Program. Through the program she completed a degree in Mass Communications, graduating at the top of her class.

Today she works as part of a missions organisation called LUMAD (Leaders United for Missions and Development) focused on assisting tribal communities in the northern areas of the Philippines.