Matt Roper travels to Brazil and starts working with girls living on the streets and addicted to crack-cocaine in Belo Horizonte.
With friend Warlei Torezani he opens a dance centre for street girls in Belo’s city centre. The girls name the project Meninadança, which means ‘Girl Dance’.
As the girls begin to leave their gangs and express a desire to leave the streets for good, two residential homes are opened.
Matt’s book ‘Street Girls’ is published, documenting the plight of homeless young girls in Brazil.
Matt’s book ‘Remember Me, Rescue Me’, about child prostitution and trafficking in Brazil, is published.
Meninadança concludes its work in Belo Horizonte after having reached every street girl in the city and returning many home to their families.
Canadian singer Dean Brody contacts Matt, now working as a reporter for the UK’s Daily Mirror newspaper, after reading his book ‘Remember Me, Rescue Me’.
Matt and Dean visit Brazil, where during a road trip they meet Leilah, 11, who is selling her body on the side of a remote highway, the BR-116.
We hold fundraising events and our first conference in London and Matt returns with his family to live in Brazil.
In Brazil, Dean and Matt travel the length of the BR-116, where they meet many more girls trapped in a nightmare of sexual exploitation.
The Pink House, Meninadança’s first project working with girls on the BR-116, opens in Medina’s town centre.
Matt Roper’s book, Highway To Hell, is published.
Our office is opened in Belo Horizonte.
We secure the conviction of the rapist and murderer of 9-year-old Emilly – the first time someone has been convicted of violence against a child in Medina.
Our ‘We Will Not Stay Silent’ protest march in Medina, on what would have been Emilly’s birthday – brings together hundreds of young people in an event which impacts the town.
After visiting Cândido Sales, 100km north of Medina on the BR-116, we bring international attention to how young girls are being used as prizes in sex raffles.
Matt and Warlei walk the 100km from Medina to Cândido Sales on foot in a symbolic gesture to show young victims of exploitation they are no longer alone.
Our second Pink House in Cândido Sales opens, the first social project of any kind to ever be established in the town.
After a letter-writing campaign, former mayor of Taiobeiras, on the run accused of abuse of hundreds of girls spanning decades, is captured
In our second walk along the BR-116, a Meninadança team walks 170km south from Medina, when they hear pleas for help from girls in Padre Paraiso and Catuji.
A team begins reaching out to girls in Padre Paraiso, using borrowed premises.
Our third Pink House opens in Catuji after the mayor invites us to start a project in the town and provides a building and other support.
Our fourth Pink House opens in Padre Paraiso.
Our Pink Houses close due to the coronavirus pandemic and our teams continue to work with the girls via home visits and social media.
We begin new projects in three towns around the site of the Brumadinho dam tragedy, working with girls affected by Brazil’s worst environment disaster.
One of Brazil’s biggest haulage companies, SADA, asks Meninadança to train up their 7,000 truck drivers to become ‘agents of protection’ on the highways.
We open our fifth Pink House in Ponto dos Volantes, in partnership with SADA.
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