A Promise Made Far From Home
In 2012, Mae spent three days homeless in Europe. She had no one beside her, and she learned firsthand how hard it is to be without a home in a country that is not your own.
A European family stepped in and helped her through it. Mae made herself a promise then: wherever she went, she would help stranded foreigners.
Today that promise has a name. Mae runs MaeHeart Cares, a personal humanitarian advocacy that helps homeless and stranded foreigners in the Philippines. The name was given to her by her father for the day she would take up humanitarian work, and she keeps it close as a memory of him.
Years Of Quiet Help
Mae started helping in 2015, but for years she did it anonymously. She chose to go public only in 2026, after seeing homeless foreigners featured on social media for content while no one actually stepped in to help them.
MaeHeart Cares is not a registered organization. Mae describes it as her own humanitarian advocacy. She runs it herself, with volunteers lending a hand, and funds it with her own money and the support of a sponsor.
One Month To Get Pascal Home
This year, Mae took on the case of Pascal, a man from France whose situation had gone viral online. He was struggling badly: sick, without food and close to death.
A concerned citizen called out Mae’s name on social media, and she acted quickly. She arranged medical care, food and shelter for him, and pushed to have his papers processed fast. Within a month, Pascal was on a flight back to France.
Some of the people she has helped still keep in touch. One of them is Chris, an Australian whom Mae helped through one of the darkest periods of his life. She counts him among those she saved.
Help That Starts With A Tag
Most cases reach Mae through social media. People message her directly, and her followers tag her when they come across a foreigner in need.
Finding them, she says, is the easy part. “The hardest part is not finding them,” Mae says. “It is earning their trust, understanding their real situation, and finding a safe way to help them rebuild their lives and return home with dignity.”
Each case can bring its own obstacles: immigration problems, missing documents, limited funds, language barriers, health issues and trauma. There are also people who misunderstand her intentions. “You also carry the emotional weight of every person you try to save,” she adds.
Not Always A Choice
Mae wants the public to look past the image of a lost foreigner on the street. “What I want people to understand is that being a foreigner stranded in the Philippines is not always a choice,” she says.
Many are dealing with problems no one sees, from expired documents and immigration issues to illness, loneliness and deep emotional trauma. “Behind every stranded foreigner is a human being with dignity, a family, and a story.”
For Mae, that is the whole point. “Humanitarian help should not be about judgment or publicity,” she says. “It should be about understanding the situation, protecting their dignity, and helping them find a safe path forward.”
It is the same kindness a European family once showed her, now paid forward one journey at a time.
