Before the night comes: My mission to rescue Brazil’s forgotten girls

When Matt Roper stumbled across an 11 year-old girl selling her body for sex on a Brazilian motorway, it changed his life forever. He tells the shocking story of the road where child exploitation is considered ‘normal’ and his journey to change hearts and minds

As Christmas approached 13 years ago this month, my family and I weren’t hanging the decorations, wrapping presents or browsing the festive markets. We had suddenly found ourselves on another continent, in sweltering temperatures, with all our belongings in a collection of suitcases – and a toddler in tow.

A year earlier I could never have imagined that our next Christmas would be like this – that I would leave everything I knew and the job I loved to move to Brazil with my wife and young son.