Foto do autor

Para outros autores com o nome Matt Roper, veja a página de desambiguação.

3 Works 43 Membros 5 Reviews

About the Author

Matt Roper is a freelance journalist living and working in Brazil. He spent eight years as a reporter for the UK's Daily Mirror.

Obras de Matt Roper

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Locais de residência
Brazil

Membros

Resenhas

Highway To Hell was a book that I could not seem to put down. Knowing from the beginning that it was a true event, make it hard not want to finish. I know I was reading to hope that at the end there was a "Happily Ever After" to the whole situation. Sadly, there is not. Well, that is not true there was one for at least one girl, and the chance for so many others to possess one.

I found myself sick to my stomach at reading how young these exploited girls were, the way their lives were led, and how some of them ended up. I can't imagine how Matt was able to keep going, but understand his driven "obsession" with trying to help the girls.

At the same time there were joyous occasions, like when they were able to save some of the girls from a terrible future. When all involved were able to track down someone and "save them, and when the center opened with girls beginning to knock on those doors.

I was shocked to find how "accepted" this all is. Not only by the people of many towns, but law enforcement, agency that knew and were supposed to protect, family members, neighbors, and so many more. I feel the need to help in some way, any way that I possibly can. One of these ways is sharing this book.

You might pass on this book just because of the topic, but I highly suggest you read it. As I stated, it is not graphic in sexual encounters-although it is referenced and obviously your mind will "fill-in-the-blanks". I plan on having my older kids read this, so that they can learn of the tragic lives that some children must live. Hopefully, this will instill a passion for helping those in need, even if those people don't know any different.
… (mais)
 
Marcado
OurWolvesDen | outras 4 resenhas | Mar 29, 2020 |
Ten years ago UK journalist Matt Roper published an exposé on the trafficking of children in Brazil. That book (Remember Me, Rescue Me) found its way into the hands of Canadian Country Star, Dean Brody. Wanting to make a difference in the lives of those stuck in prostitution, Roper and Brody travel to Brazil and make the 1,500 mile journey along BR-116–Brazil’s exploitation highway. What they find there is heart-rending.

Highway to Hell: the Road Where Childhoods are Stolen tells of their trips down BR-116 and what they found there. Along that dusty highway whole communities exploit their children. Girls routinely are forced into prostitution by abductors, gangs and even their parents. Roper tells the horrors these girls face: violence, injustice, sexual slavery, addiction, murder. Some of the girls that he and Brody encounter are as young as ten or eleven years old when they are forced into prostitution.

In a conversation with a woman named Rita Marques, a woman working with the children’s council, they hear just how widespread and culturally permissible child prostitution is in the towns along the highway: “‘Everyone’s happy when a baby girl is born,’ she said not because of the prospect of their daughter playing with dolls or dressing up, but ‘because in abouta decade, they’ll have a valuable source of income’”(24). Later, Roper observes that along the entire 1,500 mile stretch of highway, he doesn’t know of a single case where ;a girl’s abuser, pimp, brothel owner, trafficker, or even murderer, had been tried and jailed” (216). This is a place where injustice reigns and girls are victimized. As a father of girls, these stories make me sad and angry.

Roper isn’t content to just describe the horrors of BR-116. He shares personal stories of the girls that he and Brody meet along the way. Some of these he has been able to help through Meninadança, a non-profit he started which works with at-risk girls along the BR-116 corridor. They provide residence for girls leaving prostitution and dance-therapy as a way of building self esteem into girls who are used to being devalued, used and abused. Brody also starts his own foundation to help raise awareness and support for the girls of these communities.

So Highway to Hell provides a ray of hope and a means for connecting tangibly with the work that Roper and others are doing to end child sex trafficking in Brazil. through his organization. I highly recommend this book. It will open your eyes to injustice and break your heart. But it also tells the story of two men who were moved to do something about the suffering and injustice they saw. five stars:★★★★★!

Thank you to Kregel Publications and Monarch Books for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review
… (mais)
 
Marcado
Jamichuk | outras 4 resenhas | May 22, 2017 |
In Highway to Hell: The Road Where Childhoods Are Stolen, freelance journalist Matt Roper tells of the horrific child prostitution problem in Brazil, specifically along the 1,500-mile BR-116 corridor. The stories of numerous young girls – some as young as nine years old – who tragically sell their bodies to provide for their families are truly grotesque, but what is worse is that the stories told by Roper represent only a small fraction of the thousands of girls who are being exploited sexually in Brazil.

Highway to Hell tells of parents and grandparents who encourage or even force their daughters to stand by the roadside to sell themselves to long-haul truckers in order to provide for their families, of entire communities that depend on the income from child prostitution, of a government that tries to sweep the problem under the carpet, of girls who are so steeped in this culture that they don’t even recognize it as wrong, of pimps and brothels who exploit these girls (in some cases holding them hostage), and of the men who purchase these girls’ services. Praise the Lord, it also tells of the few but very important men and women who are working diligently to save these girls.

This book was eye-opening. I had never imagined that the child prostitution problem was so bad in Brazil, and while I know people whose parents did terrible things to them as children, I never could have imagined a parent or grandparent doing some of the things in this book.

I cried numerous times while reading Highway to Hell and I challenge you not to. There is a strand of hope running throughout the book, though: people such as Matt, Dean, Rita, Abigail, Fabio, and others who God is using to make a difference. You’ll cry about that as well. :-)

I promise you that you will not enjoy this book. You will, however, be changed and that is a very good thing.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Kregel Publications as part of a blog tour. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
… (mais)
 
Marcado
nlaclaire | outras 4 resenhas | Mar 13, 2014 |
Did you know that worldwide, there are nearly two million children in the commercial sex trade (UNICEF)? What if you could help do something about it? Highway to Hell is the story of two men who set out to shine a light on a dark Brazilian highway and make a difference. Roper, a former journalist for the UK’s Daily Mirror who now freelances, and his friend and fellow activist Dean Brody, a Canadian country musician, don’t just report on this horrific story, they travel the BR-116 for 1500 miles. Stopping at impoverished towns along the way, they meet young girls caught up in the cycle of abuse and exploitation. Not only do they shine a bright light on the problem that many Brazilian officials want to deny or hide away, they pledge to do something about it.

Roper may be a journalist, but Highway to Hell is not an objective newspaper piece. We’ve all read those. We know child prostitution is a problem, but for most of us it is a vague reality far removed from us. We cringe, but feel helpless to do anything about it. Roper’s book immediately humanizes the issue through a chance meeting with a little girl named Leilah. There is no way that the reader can experience this story on anything but a personal level because Roper and Brody experience it that way. These young girls are not just statistics but individuals in need of rescue and justice. Although hard to read due to the heartbreaking nature of the stories, there is also hope. Evil cannot hide once a light is shined in the darkness. Highway to Hell is well-written with heart and obvious passion. But it’s more than that. It’s a call to action, for all of us.

“That this child was quite willing to get into a car with two strangers, on a dark motorway at 1.30 in the morning, within seconds of us pulling up, is something I will never get over” (p. 16).

“If they only knew just how precious they were, how much they were really worth, how fulfilled and meaningful their lives could really be” (p. 76).

“We began to realize that if we were to be successful in rescuing other girls like her, we would have to tackle an entire culture which considered the abuse and exploitation of children as an ordinary, acceptable part of life” (p. 107).

In accordance with FTC guidelines, please note that I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
… (mais)
½
 
Marcado
TheLoopyLibrarian | outras 4 resenhas | Mar 10, 2014 |

Estatísticas

Obras
3
Membros
43
Popularidade
#352,016
Avaliação
4.1
Resenhas
5
ISBNs
19
Idiomas
2