Donna and Leonie met in the Philippines, where Leonie was travelling and Donna was teaching at a school for young kids. The first day they met, they shared some cake and a few stolen glances. It was a difficult situation to figure out that you’re having feelings for someone but you can’t tell if the other person is also into girls, and whether she likes you back, since you’re in a country where loving another woman is highly condemned and taboo.

So after an initial insecurity and shyness on both parts, they did figure it out and they couldn’t keep their eyes off each other. They started a relationship in secret, and Donna was living with her family at the time. so when it was clear that they wanted to be together, it was also clear, that Donna’s family would be against it and would never allow it.

Hiding the relationship was fairly easy, because nobody suspected anything. they were just two close girlfriends who slept in the same room. But they wanted to be free together. so they secretly packed a bag that they hid somewhere, and when the day came, they climbed out of a window and ran away. They couldn’t go to the airport that was near by, because Donna’s large family would have found them and stopped them. So they travelled quite far at night by bus, to get to a far away airport, and disappeared to Germany. Now they are living in Berlin, still teaching each other about each others cultures, sharing food and clothes and a life.

(update: Donna & Leonie got married in Sweden and had a beautiful wedding day with their closest friends.)