Imagine a nun going undercover, walking the streets at night rescuing
women and children caught in the world of human trafficking.
That’s what the Immaculate Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries do every
day in the Philippines, said Sister Irene Baquiran, a founding member
who was in the Archdiocese of New Orleans last week drumming up support
for her order.
“We try to become friends to them so they open up to us,” she said of the prostitutes.
The order, founded in 1996 by Sister Corazon Salazar, evangelizes the
downtrodden with eight professed nuns, 11 with temporary vows and three
novices.
Their charism – “We are the extension of the heart and hands
of the good shepherd looking for the lost sheep” – is lived not only by
rescuing women and children victims of prostitution off the streets but
also by breaking the cycle of poverty, the root cause of prostitution.
Sister Irene said the Philippines ranks fourth of the top 10
countries with prostituted children, so the need to rescue victims is
great.
The prostitutes range in age from 15-20, but some are as young as
8 years old.
They are forced into five to 10 sexual encounters nightly
(at a wage of 100 pesos or $2 for each encounter). Most are drugged by
their pimps to endure the horror and so are also hooked on narcotics.
“We found out that evil in society is so cunning,” she said.
Sanctuary created
The sisters converted their residence in Cebu into the Home of Love,
also called the MQHM Rehabilitation and Livelihood Training Center.
Currently, 20 victims of human trafficking who desire to change their
lives are living with
them.
“There are so many young girls who are calling us for help,” she
said, “but there is nowhere for them to go. At the center, we give them
unlimited love and unlimited help.”
The Home of Love provides shelter, food, education, health care,
counseling and job skills to former prostitutes while they learn the
love of God through spiritual formation. Their children also are
welcomed. At this temporary center, the nuns stocked up on baking
supplies to teach former prostitutes a skill to be self-sufficient.
“And we are trying to start up funds for candle making,” she said.
To counter poverty at its roots, the sisters also go into the same
remote mountain villages where pimps recruit females, promising good
paying city jobs.
Instead of prostitution, the sisters offer food,
education, medical assistance and job skills.
They have been doing this
since 2007 in a pilot program, Feeding of the Good Shepherd Foundation.
“We are trying to educate them to stop the cycle of prostitution from
proliferating,” she said.
“After three years, we found that there was
zero prostitution in the area.”
Sister Irene said it took a few years for the order to get off the
ground. They worked with now-retired cardinal from the Archdiocese of
Cebu, Philippines, Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal, to establish bylaws and
achieve local approval.
Members take vows of poverty, chastity,
obedience, total surrender and endless sacrifice and were eventually
given permission to wear habits to be recognized in the community as
religious.
Sister Irene said a pink habit was selected because it is the “color
of the joy, the love and compassion of God the Shepherd that we share
with victims of prostitution. We are trying to share the love of
Christ.”
Doing the work of God
When walking the streets, Sister Irene said they travel in pairs, not
dressed in habits.
One will go into a bar and offer love and a
listening ear to the young women who may need someone to turn to, while
the other acts as a lookout.
If the nuns have befriended an underage
girl who wants to escape, Sister Irene said prior arrangements are made
with an orphanage where the child can receive a new home and education.
Sponsors are sought to pay a bar fine of 800 pesos to remove a working
prostitute from a bar.
While it sounds like risky business, Sister Irene said, “so far there
has been no harm against us. We fight prostitution in a nonviolent way.
We do it silently without them (the pimps) knowing.”
Sister Irene said the nuns support themselves and the Home of Love
mainly through their bakery business and the sales of an original music
CD “Forever Yours.”
Rosaries, rosary bracelets and scapulars made by
boarders also are sold as the nuns promote their mission worldwide. It
takes an average of 25,000-30,000 pesos a week to keep the shelter going.
Looking for sponsors
The order works tirelessly finding sponsors to send Filipino children
to public school.
Sister Irene said currently, they are helping educate
more 800 students in elementary school and 275 in high school.
It costs $25 a month to educate each child.
Immaculate Mary Queen of Heaven Missionaries have big plans to expand
their mission by building a large complex that can house up to 500
people.
The center would allow women and children up to five years to
rehabilitate their lives.
By 2012, the nuns hope to introduce vocational courses and high
school courses – automotive mechanic courses for boys, and possibly
sewing and culinary courses for young women – in conjunction with area
schools and universities.
Sister Irene said she and others from her order are traveling in the
U.S. because they plan to go global with membership. Currently, their
ranks are all Filipino nuns.
“It is very hard to take care of the victims of prostitution,” Sister
Irene said. “It entails sacrifice. It reminds us that this is a our
mission to God.”
For more information, visit www.mqhm.org