Malisa Home
A new chance to find happiness: The Malisa Home institution in the Philippines provides shelter, love, security and a new future for abused girls.
Malisa Home was founded in 2011, and today about 30 girls call it their home.Here, they have finally found a family and have gotten the opportunity to start a new life. But behind each regained smile lies a terrible past: these girls were abused by family members and/or strangers, many of them more than once. Here at Malisa Home, they experience a new kind of affection and protection, including the possibility to finish their education and plan their own future.
Using handmade letters, the girls describe their everyday lives.
Malisa Home is located near Cagayan de Oro, which is known to be a main contact point for human traffickers in Northern Mindanao. Actress and doctor Maria Furtwängler, M.D., started the project in 2011 together with her daughter, Elisabeth, as a part of the charity organization German Doctors e.V. She is the president of the organization’s board of trustees and has been an active member of German Doctors ever since she joined the organization.
Together with the help of donations, their specialized knowledge and the support from local organizations, the German Doctors fight to decrease human trafficking in Cagayan de Oro. Maria and Elisabeth Furtwängler are very involved in the project themselves: they visit the girls regularly and keep in touch when they are not able the fly to the Philippines. Furthermore, they constantly try to raise public awareness about human trafficking and promote their project whenever they can.
