Stories of Hope
The sexual exploitation of children and young people in the Philippines and Southeast Asia ranks among the highest in the world. Sex trafficking is an inherent result of abject poverty, which leads to vulnerability, especially in rural areas.
Then there are those on the ground, in the trenches, as we say, combating, preventing, and saving victims one child at a time. A significant example is the Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries. With the help of lay mission partners, diocesan clergy, and local community leaders, this group of sixteen Sisters travel deep into rural Philippine villages to attack the problem at its source.
This series of actual events will enlighten, inspire and hopefully encourage your support for all these angels of mercy. Please follow these remarkable missionaries dressed in PINK, the 'color of joy' as it's known in the Philippines.
The Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries was established to address the cruelest result of impoverishment in the Philippines. Young girls being forced into the sex trafficking trade due to poverty. Girls ages 8 to 15 are locked in rooms and exposed to rape, diseases and murder. Many die quite young before they even have a chance to live. Through perfect love and charity, the determined nuns of MQHM have developed a two-fold plan to combat these atrocities:
We rescue children & young women, ages 8 and older, from prostitution.
We provide educational assistance to these survivors and to the rural poor of the Philippines.
Rescue Homes
HOME OF LOVE
We rescue as many women and children as possible and bring them to our ‘Home of Love’ in Tuburan, Cebu. Once there, they are safe, receive shelter and rehabilitation, while being educated and older girls are taught a respectable trade to provide for themselves and in many cases their families. We have a 93% success rate of residents who have changed their lives while in our care.
MY BONITA HOME FOR YOUNG GIRLS
My Bonita is our rescue house for young children who have been sexually abused, located in Talamban, Cebu. They receive the same services as our Home of Love residents and the response has been tremendous.
REGINA COELI HOME OF LOVE USA
Our rescue and rehabilitation Home in California, USA is newly operational and we have a mission to serve in America. California has the highest trafficking rate in the US and Los Angeles County is a hot spot. 72% of California victims are American Citizens.
Regina Coeli Education Program
We reach into the rural areas of the Philippines and offer children an education, as a preventative measure and a way out of the vicious cycle of poverty. This program is extremely successful in offering children with no means opportunities they would otherwise never be exposed to.
The environment of being in school also keeps them away from the handlers that roam the villages, promising families “good jobs” in the city for their children.
Mary Queen of Heaven has reached over 60,000 children since 2007, providing help with education and offering a path to a safe and meaningful life. 18,000 beneficiaries annually are now being served and attending school.
OVERVIEW
The Home of Love Centers, in Tuburan, Cebu, and in the United States, as well as My Bonita Home for Girls in Talamban, Cebu, needs your help to expand its facilities and sustain its mission. Our Home of Love in Cebu has a 93% success rate of residents who manage to turn their lives around while in our care. My Bonita Home now has 80 children living as residents and thriving.
The education network developed by MQHM, The Regina Coeli Educational Program, has continued to have amazing success, reaching over 18,000 students per year and growing every day with a current goal of 35,000 PER YEAR, all due to the generous help and support of our Mission Partners around the world. The Sisters of Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries sincerely desire to embrace God’s graces and serve their country's poor and unfortunate children through mercy, love, and charity. Please find it in your hearts to share your many blessings with children who have nowhere to go to escape their unspeakable situation.
We beseech the help of Mary, our Mother, St. Joseph the Worker, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, patron saint of missions and all the angels and saints in heaven. We ask you, our brothers and sisters, to help us in this most worthy cause.We give full faith and love to the Catholic Church and promise to be faithful to her teachings, living our life in simplicity, justice, integrity and unity. We truly dedicate ourselves to help others return to God and recover their dignity as His children while accepting His infinite love and mercy.
It is the vision of our community to help rebuild the church by uniting the victims of prostitution around the world with the rest of God’s people. In doing so, we make them feel that they are not forsaken nor forgotten but loved and understood. Little by little we make this dream a reality by providing them a shoulder to lean on, a listening ear, an understanding heart, a friend who stands by them in their needs. Our additional vision is to prevent the rural children of the Philippines from falling to the ills of sex victimization by encouraging education through assistance at an early age. Every child deserves a chance to seek a prosperous and happy life.