Somewhere in the world, girls are on the menu.

You can go to a bar and order a young girl for sex in the same way we go to a takeaway shop and order a curry. That’s not right.

Destiny Rescue have only been operating in New Zealand for two years. That means awareness of the organisation is low, so something that would stand out and be memorable was clearly needed.

‘GIRLS ON THE MENU’ was launched to raise awareness about the horrors of child sexual slavery and raise money to rescue them. It was controversial, brave and uncomfortable. But we can’t stop it if we don’t talk about it.

A pop-up restaurant named ‘DARK SECRET’ was created, where people could learn about the cause, hear from real life rescue agents and even meet a former victim. Held in a dimly-lit, backstreet bar, everything was themed to mimic the places these girls are sold.

Tasked with getting 60 people to the event, powerful invites were created - both physical and electronic. There were 157 guests at the event.

Then menus for the event were produced which everyone had on their table. But they weren’t your usual menu. And patrons were none-the-wiser as to what they were eating. Instead, to highlight just how horrific the trafficking industry is, food descriptions were replaced with confronting descriptions of girls.

They had people shocked. They had people angry. And they had people in tears. But most importantly, they had people reaching for their wallets to help. In total, between monthly payments over two years and one offs, $39,248 was raised, smashing the objective of $19,200.