Jhon came to the SOS Children’s Village Floridablanca, Colombia at the age of seven with his sisters. His father died and his mother became too sick to take care of them. He remembers quickly settling into life in the village.
“I could forget all that fear I felt, especially for the unconditional support I received from my second mom,” he says, referring to his SOS mother, Janeth Guerrero, who he describes as a “role model”.
Since a young age, Jhon has been a passionate singer. “I always liked to sing, but besides that, I wanted to be able to say something with music, that's why I chose it,” he says. Most of his songs are romantic ballads from the heart. His goal is to “achieve the dream of every musician” – to be able to make a living from his music and perform around the world. So far, he has travelled to Chile, Mexico and Panama as well as other parts of Colombia with his band to give concerts.
He has already taken great strides towards reaching this dream, studying music at university. He plans to complete a Master’s degree in film-score composition for film and television. He feels he has only been able to achieve this because of the support he has received from his SOS family. “SOS Children’s Villages for me is my family, and like any family, they have always been a constant support in all aspects of my life,” Jhon says.
In December 2018, Jhon – alongside other musicians – released a song for an SOS Children’s Villages Colombia campaign on violence against children. The song, called Mil Colores (A thousand colours), can be watched here.
“I always had the unconditional support of them, in all the things that I wanted to achieve and also the opportunity to have a bigger family,” he says. SOS Children’s Villages taught him much in life, he explains. “I learned that not only do you receive, but you can also give and thus improve people’s lives – as many people did for me a long time ago.”
His YouTube channel can be found here.
Photo: SOS Children's Villages Colombia.
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