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The plan is for the traffickers to meet with us out on the yacht, while the children are taken inside a hut on the beach. Itโs vital for the legal case that the traffickers are recorded telling the agents how many children they control, and how much they will charge.
Once the traffickers arrive, the plan plays out to perfection. Theyโve delivered exactly what they said they would, 30 children between the ages of eight and 16. They explain that their daily value is a little over $300 per child, and then they return to the beach to collect their cash.
A signal is given and Haitian police move in, guns drawn. Balaclava-clad detectives armed with assault rifles order the traffickers to the ground, and seize the envelopes of cash theyโve been handed as payment for the dayโs services.
All told, nine traffickers end up in handcuffs, and 30 children are placed into the care of experienced trauma counsellors. The rescue team is now working directly with the Haitian president on the prosecution of the traffickers arrested.
For most of the children, this is their first taste of freedom in many years.
Theyโve spent much of their young lives crowded into locked rooms with no windows, sleeping on concrete floors. The sad reality is that many have been given up for this life of abuse, by their own impoverished families. Children sourced in calamity, the pieces of their lives never quite coming together.
The safe houses where the children will be cared for seem at first glance like the saddest places on earth. With executions often ordered for girls set to testify, they are protected 24/7 by heavily armed guards.
As the first television crew ever allowed inside these top-secret compounds, we discover girls as young as 11, pregnant, or already raising children themselves. The heartbreaking product of rape.
But if you look beyond their scarred hearts and the dim lights of their eyes, youโll find a place full of hope. Beautiful young Haitians with secret smiles and untold potential.
Trauma counsellors bringing kids whoโve lived through an infinitude of suffering, back to life. They have medical treatment, and the opportunity to go to school.
Maria Atkinson runs Jasper House, a refuge for survivors in coastal Jacmel. Sheโs a volunteer who abandoned her life of privilege in America, to dedicate her life to these children.
โThese are the worldโs forgotten children. The ones who have fallen through the cracks,โ Maria tells me as we watch the children dance and sing during an afternoon art class. โThey have been beaten down, and abused, and made to feel worthless, but nothing in the world is more rewarding than when you see the light come back into their faces. Their resilience totally blows me away. They have been through more than we could ever imagine, and yet they find a way back.โ
For the Aussies involved in this rescue, the biggest child trafficking bust in Haitiโs history, thereโs little time to pause and celebrate.
โItโs like pushing on the chest of Haiti,โ Pete tells me as we watch the traffickers being led away to prison. โItโs like saying, โHey, you have an enormous problem here, but we are with you and we are ready to helpโ.โ
And with more than five million children enslaved worldwide, Operation Underground Railroad certainly needs the help. In fact, human trafficking now rivals guns and drugs as one of the fastest-growing crimes in the world.
Thereโs a temptation here in Australia, half a world away from Haiti, to think, โthis is not our country, these are not our children, this is someone elseโs problemโ.
Pete and Vivienne are pleading for a different perspective.
โIt takes some engagement to say, โno, Iโm more than just Australian. Iโm part of thisโ. Borders and boundaries mean nothing when you look into the kidsโ eyes,โโ Pete says.
For Vivienne, helping is the human thing to do: โThese are children, and if they donโt have anyone, they are all of ours. To sit back and do nothing is not something we were wired to do.โ