Our law enforcement partners in South America recently set out on the Amazon River to catch a group of traffickers who sold kids down by the water’s edge. This child trafficking business thrived on the hundreds of tourists that came through on Amazon tours.
The law enforcement team was successfully able to rescue the children by boat and raid the trafficking ring. Due to this operation that happened on the river, the survivors had to travel back to the aftercare homes on a boat with the law enforcement team. On the way back, the boat capsized. Many of the children did not know how to swim.
The law enforcement team worked hard for those treacherous, life-threatening few minutes to keep the kids from drowning and rescue all of them. This type of situation could have turned out very different for the children.
This amazing team of law enforcement and social workers successfully provided safe travel for the children back to dry ground, but at this point they realized they had a definite need: additional life jackets.
On a recent aftercare trip to this country, this wishlist item came up in conversation with our Aftercare Team. One of O.U.R.’s purposes is to empower local law enforcement and aftercare by providing specific resources when needed. We worked hard to meet this specific need in a timely manner. During a recent aftercare mission, we were able to deliver the life jackets to this proactive law enforcement unit.
We would like to thank the Malouf Foundation, who supported us in the endeavor to provide life jackets. The rescue team now has five reliable life jackets to keep in their boat at all times. When rescue operations come up, they will immediately be ready to go.
We are also grateful for our South American law enforcement unit and social workers who are fully engaged in relationships of trust with our team. It is important to O.U.R. to create relationships like this so that we can find and fill specific requests for law enforcement teams and ultimately rescue more children from human trafficking.
Read more about our rescue operations all over the world here.
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