Matt Roper

Matt was in his last year of Media school when he first learned of them - young girls forced into sex slavery in the remote mining camps of the Amazon. No sooner had he received his degree than he boarded a plane for Brazil - with only a backpack and a translation device to his name. It was the beginning of a life changing journey. Sailing rusted boats to isolated brothels in the Amazon, encountering pimps on the beaches of Rio, living with street children in Belo Horizonte, and even following some into the underworld sewers of Belem where they hid from world above them. It was a journey that led to the bestseller “Remember Me, Rescue Me”.

10 years later, he has written 2 books on the subject, composed influential reports received by British, Brazilian and Bolivian governments, and documented everything from virgin auctions, to “death squad” child assassinations, to his own infiltration of a Bolivian drug gang and the trafficking of young girls along the Bolivian border. He continues to use the power of media to affect change in the hearts and minds of people.

In 2003, Matt returned to London and was hired by Piers Morgan (currently Piers Morgan Tonight - CNN) to work as a feature writer for The Daily Mirror, one of the UKʼs leading newspapers. He has been a staff writer there for the last 8 years. However, of all the remarkable things Matt has accomplished, his legacy will be the work he does on the ground for the most vulnerable of Brazil, getting in the trenches with them and showing them a way out.

On November 21st, 2011 Matt once again boarded a plane for Brazil, but this time he brought his wife Dani and his son Milo along for the journey. They will work to establish “safe houses” along the notorious BR 116 where there is an average documented point of prostitution every 10 miles - from the border of Uruguay to the northern resort town of Fortaleza - a stretch of motorway exceeding 2700 miles. The first house will be in the dusty roadside town of Medina. Matt will also continue his work as a human rights journalist and author from his home in Brazil.

Dani Roper

Mattʼs wife Dani, a Brazilian national, trained pastry chef, and full time mom, has a remarkable story of her own. At the age of seven her mother took her to the bus station and put her on a bus with a one way ticket to nowhere. Dani spent that first night in a filthy gutter, terrified, and crying herself to sleep in a strange city. She then spent the next three years living on the violent streets of Belo Horizonte. She remembers looking up at the stars one night and saying, “If you are there God - and you can rescue me from this life, someday I will come back and help other girls like me.” She has an ability to reach the girls of Brazil like few others, her story is truly inspiring.

Milo Roper

Young Milo enjoys the good life. Naps, diaper changes and just being a boy. However, he now finds himself in the difficult position of choosing between England and Brazil for the World Cup Championship of 2014!