Hero Aussie Dad – I’ve saved 100s of girls

Rob and his family gave up their Sunshine Coast lives to help others

Iwas in my of ce when an email popped into my inbox.

Do you remember Srey? my colleague had written.

She’s got a new job at a factory, he wrote. She’s in charge of 300 staff now and just got in touch to thank us for changing her life.

A smile spread across my face. As a worker for an organisation called Destiny Rescue, I’d met Srey ve years earlier.

Back then, life was very different for her.

Aged 15, Srey had been a victim of human traf cking and forced into sex work.

Destiny Rescue had been part of an operation to free her from her captors.

When the police arrested one of the men involved, Srey was brave enough to testify against him in court and he was convicted.

Sadly, he wasn’t in jail for long, and Srey had to move to one of our safe houses for her protection.

We’d helped her get an education and start a new life. I was so proud.

Stories like Srey’s show what a huge difference our work can make.

I’d rst heard about Destiny Rescue in 2010.

At the time, I’d been running a real estate

rm on the

Sunshine Coast, in Queensland.

With three daughters and two sons aged between 10 and 20, my wife, Judy, then 42, and I were pretty busy.

We’d always been keen on giving back, though, whether that be with beach barbecues for the homeless community, or sponsoring children we’d met on a trip to Africa.

So, when I heard about Destiny Rescue as part of a talk at the kids’ school, I wanted to nd out more.

Going to another event about the organisation, I found myself in tears as the speaker explained about sexual slavery.

Teenage girls and young women all over the world were nding themselves caught up in, or sold into, sex work.

‘We’re so lucky,’ I told my wife afterwards, thinking about our three beautiful daughters.

The idea of them facing something so horrendous made me shudder.

‘I want to help,’ I told

Judy. ‘They need to raise money to send a new manager to Thailand.’

Of course she was on board, and we helped arrange a fundraiser for them. At that event, I heard about a volunteer job running refuges for rescued girls in Cambodia.

Could I do it? I wondered.

It was ridiculous really… I had a business to run and kids in school.

But then a letter landed on my desk at work.

‘Someone wants to buy the business,’ I told Judy. It felt like a sign.

Could we really move to Cambodia though? We’d never even visited there!

Aged 15, she had been forced into sex work

We mulled it over endlessly, but eventually, we decided to sell up and make the move.

My eldest decided to stay in Australia, but our other kids were up for the adventure.

We talked to them about what a difference we could make, and they understood it wasn’t forever.

In April 2011, we moved to Kampong Cham in Cambodia and Judy homeschooled the children.

We loved the simplicity of it all, and being away from the rat race back home.

My job was to run homes that housed up to 55 girls, helping them integrate back into the community.

There were also people who went into brothels to free under-aged girls.

Early on, I went on one of these operations with Tony Kirwan, the Aussie founder of Destiny Rescue.

They were known as covert rescues. The aim was to befriend the girls and chat to them about ways out.

It was confronting, but with help from local translators, it was possible to gain the girls’ trust.

Then, we’d try to meet them outside the brothels, so they could speak more freely, and we could help them.

By 2012, I was a rescue manager, heading up a team doing these rescues full-time.

‘I worry about you,’ Judy would say, as there was always a chance of violence.

Sometimes, we’d be too late and, horrifyingly, girls were killed before we could free them.

For safety, I had to try to keep where we lived, and my identity, a secret.

By then, Judy had become a refuge manager, so she fully understood how important our work was.

Plus, I couldn’t shake the feeling – what if this was one of our children?

After ve years in Cambodia, our teams had saved more than 500 girls.

It was time for us to help elsewhere, and we moved to another posting in Asia, then one in the Dominican Republic, where I helped rescue girls in police raids.

I became a Destiny

Rescue employee, so the work became my career, as well as my calling.

Now, 10 years on, our kids are grown and we’re back in Queensland temporarily, due to the pandemic.

Our work is never done though. There are so many victims to save, it’s overwhelming.

Destiny Rescue has liberated more than 6000 girls and women.

I feel very proud of our work and my family for their support.

I’d never have believed I’d swap real estate for rescues.

But, by changing lives,

I’ve also changed mine, and it’s de nitely for the better. ●

For more, visit destiny rescue.org.au

Our teams have

saved more than 500 girls