Kintsugi Heroes
Paul Margard
Paul Margard turned a chance meeting with a trafficked child into direct rescue operations saving thousands across ten countries.
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Paul Margard's work rescuing children from human trafficking started with a film and a single meeting. In the early 2000s, a movie about the abolition of slavery opened his eyes to modern trafficking. Years later, in Mumbai, he met Anita, a woman who had been forced into sex work as a 9-year-old child and spent more than a decade in the red light district. Her story of survival and redemption changed everything for Paul. A chance encounter at Mumbai airport, where he overheard Australian women expressing relief that sex workers exist, crystallised for him the disconnect between comfort and the reality of children trapped in exploitation.
For a decade, Paul carried that calling while working in international aid and development, watching doors close and opening again. In 2019, Destiny Rescue approached him to join as Deputy Chief Executive. Since then, he has led direct rescue operations across ten countries, going undercover into bars and brothels to identify and extract children being exploited. Last year alone, his team rescued over 3,000 people. The cost is modest: $1,800 per rescue. What matters more is the scale of need. Paul's team rescues six to seven people every single day, yet they could double that number tomorrow if they had the resources.
The work has shaped him as a father. Paul is raising his two boys to understand that giving back to the world matters more than taking from it. He believes that when we centre other people's freedom and wellbeing in our own lives, we find meaning. Every child deserves a childhood, a choice about their own destiny, and a chance to dream.
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