ANDY Roberts was 4,500 miles from home when he heard the story that would change his life. It was the story of one family but it was representative of hundreds more.

Three sisters, aged eight, ten and 12, told Andy how they were prostituted by their own mother, night after night after night; sent out to sell themselves on the streets. The eldest had been kidnapped and held captive and although she escaped, it was only back to her abusive mother.

Andy and the charity he was working with didn’t know how to help, but he vowed that would never be the case again. Now, three years on, he is spearheading the fight against abuse, exploitation and trafficking in impoverished Brazil – aided by huge fundraising support back home in York.

Andy, who is 27 and from Badger Hill, has founded his own, new charity called ReVive, which has now bought a safe-house for street girls in the north-eastern city of Olinda.

The purchase has been made possible after supporters, mostly here in England, raised £50,000 in only three weeks. Much of the help came through York churches including St Michael le Belfrey, where Andy’s father, the Rev Jim Roberts, is on the clergy team.

“When we saw the situation that the young girls were in and heard that there was nothing or very little being done to help them, we knew that we had to act,” says Andy, who lives in Olinda with his wife, Rose, and baby daughter, Sofia.

“This is the motivation behind ReVive International and ReVive Brazil; that we might never have to say again to another girl who is being abused, ‘I’m sorry, there’s nothing we can do.’ Now, we can.”

His main driving force, he says, is his own Christian faith and sense of God’s love. “We only receive a relatively short time in life and I’d like to make the most of it,” he says. “Hopefully, through ReVive, we’ll be able to show the girls that someone really does love and care for them.”

Andy says his own commitment to the work and to impoverished Brazil began on his gap year. “Seeing children living rough on the streets and in poverty really moved me,” he says. “I really wanted to help so after completing university in the UK I decided that the best way I could help them was to offer myself and the skills that I have, rather than helping in other ways such as financially from the UK.”

The first ReVive house will accommodate up to 12 girls aged 15 or younger and will provide professional care. Skilled medical staff will treat the girls’ physical injuries and assess them for any addictions or sexually transmitted diseases from their life on the streets; a psychologist will work closely with the girls to help address potential trauma and a social worker will visit their families to investigate their situations.

The girls will be given the chance to return to school and learn skills for future work, and if they cannot be safely returned home, alternative care will be arranged to ensure a safe family environment when they leave the house, generally within two years of their arrival.

As the charity grows and support continues, more houses will be bought in other cities in north-east Brazil to expand its reach. The charity is registered in the UK and Brazil, and Andy hopes it will eventually be able to support itself entirely through local funding.

Estimates suggest 500,000 children could be involved in the sex industry across Brazil; possibly more. Sexual exploitation, trafficking and forced prostitution are major issues and Unicef says the pre-existing problem of sex tourism has been compounded as the internet has made it easier for people to arrange encounters.

The problem is particularly severe in the north east of Brazil, one of the sex capitals of the world, says Andy.

The case he encountered, where parents have been found encouraging children to prostitute themselves or actively selling the child for sex, is far from isolated. Brazil has made a big effort to tackle the most obvious poverty and abuses ahead of hosting the football World Cup next year and the Olympic Games in 2016. But there is much still to do.

“A Brazilian Government study among some of the girls forced into prostitution found that the average age of their first sexual encounter was just ten years old,” says Andy. “Currently in the city of Olinda, there are no projects that work exclusively with girls who are trapped in this situation.”

There are plenty of preventative projects but not nearly enough to help those already trapped, says Andy. ReVive, which will work with local authorities and which has the backing of the local Child Welfare department, hopes to change that.

• ReVive is a registered UK charity (number 1149017). Donations or standing orders can be made to the HSBC bank account; sort code 40-47-31, account number 84478460. Alternatively, cheques payable to ReVive International can be sent to 12 Bishops Way, Badger Hill, York, YO10 5JG. For information, visit revive-international.org