Johan Vandenbossche was born in Leuven, Belgium, in 1986. Until his 10th birthday he was the youngest of a family with two sisters. When his little sister was born in 1996, he became a proud big brother and he could practice his first parenting skills. A quality which he later put to good use as a leader at the youth movement ‘Chiro Hekeko’ in Kessel-Lo.
In 2008, when finishing his journalism training at the Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen, Johan went through a difficult time. After a broken relationship and bad results at school, he started looking for a new challenge. He wanted to do something good somewhere before graduation. What could he do? And where? After taking a long and relaxing bath, he went to tell his parents about his new plans. He was going to go to Ethiopia. An unknown destination, but they spoke a little English there, and Johan was ready for a new challenge.