Sister Corazon J. Salazar held on to a difficult conviction: no girl should have to resign herself to life on the streets.
In 1996, together with six other nuns, she founded the Missionaries of Mary Queen of Heaven in Cebu, Philippines. Since then, they have searched for girls and young women trapped in prostitution and human trafficking, some as young as 8, and brought them to Casa del Amor, in Tuburan. There, they receive more than just shelter and food: they receive education, care, and the first certainty that someone chose them without asking for anything in return.
Archbishop Alberto S. Uy visited the place and left transformed by what he saw. In a country where more than 70% of human trafficking convictions are linked to sexual exploitation, these women have quietly built a refuge from the statistics. Three decades later, they are still there, keeping alive the possibility of starting over.
