I have received many email forwards, then I have forwarded them to people on "my list". I love these touching, warm, funny emails. I started saving them on my computer, so I would never lose them. I decided to create a blog to hold all these email forwards, so others can enjoy them and so I can easily refer to them when I want. I hope people who love email forwards as much as I do, or like reading funny and inspirational readings will find this site and share it with others.
From Denver to Chicago suffered a catastrophic failure when the tail-mounted No. 2 engine exploded at 37,000 feet, sending shrapnel through all three hydraulic systems and leaving the DC-10 with no flight controls.
In an unprecedented display of airmanship, Captain Al Haynes and his crew - assisted by an off-duty DC-10 instructor who happened to be onboard - managed to steer the crippled aircraft for 44 minutes using only differential engine thrust, a technique never practiced in simulators.
The eventual crash landing at Sioux Gateway Airport in Iowa occurred at nearly three times the normal descent rate, causing the aircraft to cartwheel and break apart.
While 111 lives were lost, 185 passengers and crew survivedwhat aviation experts had considered an un-survivable scenario.
The accident led to major safety improvements, including redundant hydraulic systems and enhanced crew training, cementing Flight 232’s legacy as both a tragic disaster and one of aviation’s most remarkable displays of skill under pressure.
The crew’s heroic efforts demonstrated that even in seemingly hopeless situations, exceptional training and teamwork could make the difference between total catastrophe and miraculous survival.
Pan·dem·ic /panˈdemik/ (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.
As humans have spread across the world, so have infectious diseases. Even in this modern era, outbreaks are nearly constant, though not every outbreak reaches pandemic level as COVID-19 has.
Today’s visualization outlines some of history’s most deadly pandemics, from the Antonine Plague to the current COVID-19 event.
A Timeline of Historical Pandemics
Disease and illnesses have plagued humanity since the earliest days, our mortal flaw. However, it was not until the marked shift to agrarian communities that the scale and spread of these diseases increased dramatically.
Widespread trade created new opportunities for human and animal interactions that sped up such epidemics. Malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, influenza, smallpox, and others first appeared during these early years.
The more civilized humans became – with larger cities, more exotic trade routes, and increased contact with different populations of people, animals, and ecosystems – the more likely pandemics would occur.
Here are some of the major pandemics that have occurred over time:
Name
Time period
Type / Pre-human host
Death toll
Antonine Plague
165-180
Believed to be either smallpox or measles
5M
Japanese smallpox epidemic
735-737
Variola major virus
1M
Plague of Justinian
541-542
Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, fleas
30-50M
Black Death
1347-1351
Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, fleas
200M
New World Smallpox Outbreak
1520 – onwards
Variola major virus
56M
Great Plague of London
1665
Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, fleas
100,000
Italian plague
1629-1631
Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, fleas
1M
Cholera Pandemics 1-6
1817-1923
V. cholerae bacteria
1M+
Third Plague
1885
Yersinia pestis bacteria / Rats, fleas
12M (China and India)
Yellow Fever
Late 1800s
Virus / Mosquitoes
100,000-150,000 (U.S.)
Russian Flu
1889-1890
Believed to be H2N2 (avian origin)
1M
Spanish Flu
1918-1919
H1N1 virus / Pigs
40-50M
Asian Flu
1957-1958
H2N2 virus
1.1M
Hong Kong Flu
1968-1970
H3N2 virus
1M
HIV/AIDS
1981-present
Virus / Chimpanzees
25-35M
Swine Flu
2009-2010
H1N1 virus / Pigs
200,000
SARS
2002-2003
Coronavirus / Bats, Civets
770
Ebola
2014-2016
Ebolavirus / Wild animals
11,000
MERS
2015-Present
Coronavirus / Bats, camels
850
COVID-19
2019-Present
Coronavirus – Unknown (possibly pangolins)
848K (Johns Hopkins University estimate as of 10:28am PT, Aug 31, 2020)
Note: Many of the death toll numbers listed above are best estimates based on available research. Some, such as the Plague of Justinian and Swine Flu, are subject to debate based on new evidence.
Despite the persistence of disease and pandemics throughout history, there’s one consistent trend over time – a gradual reduction in the death rate. Healthcare improvements and understanding the factors that incubate pandemics have been powerful tools in mitigating their impact.
Wrath of the Gods
In many ancient societies, people believed that spirits and gods inflicted disease and destruction upon those that deserved their wrath. This unscientific perception often led to disastrous responses that resulted in the deaths of thousands, if not millions.
In the case of Justinian’s plague, the Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea traced the origins of the plague (the Yersinia pestis bacteria) to China and northeast India, via land and sea trade routes to Egypt where it entered the Byzantine Empire through Mediterranean ports.
Despite his apparent knowledge of the role geography and trade played in this spread, Procopius laid blame for the outbreak on the Emperor Justinian, declaring him to be either a devil, or invoking God’s punishment for his evil ways. Some historians found that this event could have dashed Emperor Justinian’s efforts to reunite the Western and Eastern remnants of the Roman Empire, and marked the beginning of the Dark Ages.
Luckily, humanity’s understanding of the causes of disease has improved, and this is resulting in a drastic improvement in the response to modern pandemics, albeit slow and incomplete.
Importing Disease
The practice of quarantine began during the 14th century, in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics. Cautious port authorities required ships arriving in Venice from infected ports to sit at anchor for 40 days before landing — the origin of the word quarantine from the Italian “quaranta giorni”, or 40 days.
One of the first instances of relying on geography and statistical analysis was in mid-19th century London, during a cholera outbreak. In 1854, Dr. John Snow came to the conclusion that cholera was spreading via tainted water and decided to display neighborhood mortality data directly on a map. This method revealed a cluster of cases around a specific pump from which people were drawing their water from.
While the interactions created through trade and urban life play a pivotal role, it is also the virulent nature of particular diseases that indicate the trajectory of a pandemic.
Tracking Infectiousness
Scientists use a basic measure to track the infectiousness of a disease called the reproduction number — also known as R0 or “R naught.” This number tells us how many susceptible people, on average, each sick person will in turn infect.
Measles tops the list, being the most contagious with a R0 range of 12-18. This means a single person can infect, on average, 12 to 18 people in an unvaccinated population.
While measles may be the most virulent, vaccination efforts and herd immunity can curb its spread. The more people are immune to a disease, the less likely it is to proliferate, making vaccinations critical to prevent the resurgence of known and treatable diseases.
It’s hard to calculate and forecast the true impact of COVID-19, as the outbreak is still ongoing and researchers are still learning about this new form of coronavirus.
Urbanization and the Spread of Disease
We arrive at where we began, with rising global connections and interactions as a driving force behind pandemics. From small hunting and gathering tribes to the metropolis, humanity’s reliance on one another has also sparked opportunities for disease to spread.
Urbanization in the developing world is bringing more and more rural residents into denser neighborhoods, while population increases are putting greater pressure on the environment. At the same time, passenger air traffic nearly doubled in the past decade. These macro trends are having a profound impact on the spread of infectious disease.
As organizations and governments around the world ask for citizens to practice social distancing to help reduce the rate of infection, the digital world is allowing people to maintain connections and commerce like never before.
Editor’s Note: The COVID-19 pandemic is in its early stages and it is obviously impossible to predict its future impact. This post and infographic are meant to provide historical context, and we will continue to update it as time goes on to maintain its accuracy.
Update (March 15, 2020): We’ve adjusted the death toll for COVID-19, and will continue to update on a regular basis.
Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or a loved one's life. In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation... This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, & everyone you know. After reading these 10 crucial tips, forward them to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.
1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do :The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!
2. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,....... DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse. AND RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!
3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.
4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.)... DON'T DO THIS! The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your HEAD and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR, LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE..
If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF....... Repeat: DO NOT DRIVE OFF!!!! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes......BAIL OUT AND RUN!!!! It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.
5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage: A.) BE AWARE... look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor and in the back seat. B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their cars. C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side.. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)
6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)
7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!!!! Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!
8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP!!! It may get you raped or killed. (Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next VICTIM).
9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last and because it was late and she thought it was weird..She called the police. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR! The lady then said that it sounded like the baby had crawled near a windrow and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way, whatever you do, do not open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby.. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.
10. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe..... DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.
Stay alert, keep safe, and look out for your neighbors!
I'd like you to forward this to all the women you know. It may save a life. I was going to send this to the ladies only but guys, if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc.... You may want to pass it onto them. Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or a loved one's life.
Tedd Petruna is a diver at the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Lab) facility at NASA Houston. Tedd happened to be on the AirTran Flight 297, from Atlanta to Houston. Here's his report :
"One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers from the 18th you may have seen a blurb about where an Air Tran flight was canceled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. The story was only on Fox News. That was NOT what really happened.
I was seated in 1st class coming home. Eleven Muslim men got on the plane in full Muslim attire. Two of them sat in 1st class and the rest seated themselves throughout the plane, in coach class, all the way to the back. As the plane taxied out to the runway, the stewardesses gave the safety spiel that we are all so familiar with.
At that time, one of the men, in 1st class, got on his cell and called one of his companions back in coach. He proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very, very aggressively. This activity took the 1st stewardess out of action for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at that time. He ignored her as if she were not there. The man, who answered the phone back in the coach section, did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. Further back in the plane, at the same time, two younger Muslims, one in the back on the aisle, and one sitting in front of him by the window, began to show footage of a porno video they had taped the night before. They were very loud about it.
The 3rd stewardess informed the two men that they were not to have any electronic devices on at this time. One of the men said "shut up infidel dog!"
The stewardess attempted to take the camcorder and the Muslim began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all eleven of the men got up and started to walk throughout the cabin. I guess that because of the noise, the flight crew must have decided that there was something amiss and changed the plane's directions to head back to the terminal.
The commotion and noise was reaching a feverish pitch, and at this point I had had enough! I got up and started towards the back of 1st class, when I heard a voice behind me, from another Texan twice my size, say "I got your back." Then I grabbed the man, who had been on the cell phone, by the arm and said "You WILL sit down in your seat or you WILL be thrown from this plane!" As I "led" him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed him back to his seat. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, "You WILL do the same!"
He protested loudly, but my adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go also. Just as I escorted him forward, the plane stopped, the doors opened and three TSA agents and four police officers entered the cabin. Myself and my new Texas friend were told to cease and desist for they had the situation under control.
I was quite happy to oblige actually. There was still some sort of commotion in the back, but within moments, all eleven Muslim men were escorted off the plane. The TSA agents then had their luggage unloaded. We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happened.
Then suddenly, the door opened again and in walked all eleven Muslim men! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic, (the only way I can describe it) they were reseated. The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw the men, she was having NONE of it! Since I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agents that there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with the Muslim men. The agent told her that they had searched the men and were going through their luggage with a fine tooth comb. However, nothing had been found and that the men were allowed to proceed on to Houston.
The captain and co-captain came out of the cockpit and told the agent, "We and our crew will not fly this plane!" After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. Five minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on. Again, this was where I had had enough! I got up and asked the TSA agent, "What the hell is going on?
I was told to take my seat. The airlines and TSA were sorry for the delay and we would be home shortly. I said "I'm getting off this plane". The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. Now I'm really mad! I said "I am a grown man who bought this ticket, who's time is mine with a family at home and I am going through that door, or I'm going through that door with you under my arm, but I AM going through that door!"
And then I heard a voice behind me say "So am I!" Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same thing. Within two minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met by more TSA agents who asked me to write a statement about the incident. I had five hours to kill at this point waiting for the next flight to Houston, so why the hell not give them my statement. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was canceled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6 PM, but I finally got there at 12:30 AM. If you don't believe this, look up the date and then Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston.
If this wasn't a terrorism dry run, I don't know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it. I'm telling this to you because I want you to know. The threat IS real. I saw it with my own eyes."
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article addresses the atrocity of child sex slavery—one of the fastest growing and most lucrative criminal industries in the world today. While we have made every effort to avoid graphic language, this article might be disturbing for some readers.
On a balmy February afternoon in the poverty-stricken country of Haiti, Timothy Ballard is thrown to the ground and handcuffed by local law enforcement. Lifting his head from the asphalt, he watches as the woman who just sold him two young children—a brother and sister ages 2 and 3—for $15,000 apiece is hauled away by police.
Little did the woman know that Ballard is a former CIA and Homeland Security agent who was working with the Haitian government in an undercover operation that would liberate 28 children from her “orphanage.” Little did she know that Ballard would go on to rescue more than 200 children from human traffickers in 2014 alone.
Ballard describes himself as a modern-day abolitionist and is doing everything in his power to educate the public about the little-acknowledged plague of human trafficking in society.
“We go about our lives thinking we have eradicated slavery, but it’s bigger than ever,” he says. “There are more slaves today than all the slaves in 300 years of the transatlantic slave trade.” In fact, human rights organizations agree there are at least 21 million victims of human trafficking in the world today, including 2 million children. Rescuing these children has become Ballard’s mission in life—a mission he believes is inspired of the Lord.
Into the Darkness
“I didn’t run into this line of work heroically with my sword unsheathed,” he clarifies. “I went in kicking and screaming.”
As a government agent, Ballard had been trained to fight terrorism, so he was surprised when his boss specifically requested that he help form a child crimes unit.
“I told him no,” he recalls. “It’s the one thing I wouldn’t do. It’s the worst possible thing anyone can see. Who knows how that would affect you?”
But his boss insisted that Ballard’s LDS faith would help strengthen him against the horrific crimes he would be facing.
“He felt my religious background would be a protection for me,”Ballard says.
After fasting and praying with his wife, Katherine, the couple felt strongly that the answer was “yes.” “The very reason I said no at first is the very reason we came to the decision to say yes—because we have children.”
So Ballard began his job as an undercover operative who assumed the role of pedophile or child trafficker. It wasn’t long after his first case, which led to the rescue of a 5-year-old boy, that he again doubted if he could withstand the emotional, psychological, and spiritual toll.
“This little boy was being violated in the worst possible way,” he recalls. “I was the first agent on the scene, and he jumped into my arms and wouldn’t let go. I came home that night and collapsed on the floor and cried like a baby.”
Ballard continues, “I told my wife, ‘I can’t do this.’ These children are being kidnapped and raped. There is nothing worse on earth. There is nothing worse in hell.” But he felt a powerful confirmation that this was what he was supposed to do. “I made a commitment to God and to that little boy that I would do everything I could, even if it killed me.”
So that’s exactly what he did for the next 12 years.
Divine Inspiration
As a government agent, Ballard could only work cases if a US citizen was involved. “There are limited resources,” he explains. “I don’t fault the government—it’s just the way it is.”
However, Ballard’s frustration grew unbearable as he infiltrated child trafficking rings only to be forced to leave innocent victims behind.
“I’ve had cases where I knew where the kids were, but I couldn’t get them out because there was no US connection,” he says. “I couldn’t take it anymore.”
He continues, “I had several very profound spiritual experiences that made it clear to me that I was to do something more in this field. I started getting powerful feelings that my family needed to leave California and move to Utah, but we had no idea why we were supposed to go.”
So Ballard and his wife went to the temple for guidance. The next morning, in what Ballard describes as a “spiritual download,” he received a clear and undeniable answer: “Find the lost children.”
“I knew exactly what that meant. I was to find those kids who were out of our jurisdictional reach by starting a private, nonprofit organization. I didn’t know how, but something in Utah would lead to this.”
The family moved to Utah in the summer of 2012, and soon everything fell into place for Ballard to found Operation Underground Railroad,which specializes in rescuing children trapped in slavery.
“Before I left the government, I called all my contacts in other countries. I asked if they would still let me come in and operate privately, and they all said yes.”
So the father of six assembled a team of former Navy Seals, ex-CIA agents, and other operatives with unique skill sets. Despite not knowing where the money would come from, networking and word of mouth quickly led to enough donations to begin operations in January of 2014.
“Even as the money was dropping, I felt like Jonah—I wanted to run and hide. But it got to the point that as hard as it was to walk down this unknown path, not taking it became scarier. I became petrified at the thought of sitting down with the Lord and explaining why I didn’t do what He had asked of me.”
Spiritual Strategy
Ballard’s team consists of people of all faiths, but many are LDS, including childhood friend and former Navy Seal Dutch Turley, who serves as vice president of Rescue Operations. Former US diplomat and intelligence officer Matt Osborne, who serves as vice president of Foreign Missions and Intelligence in the organization, is also LDS. In fact, Osborne joined the Church two years ago because of his friendship with Ballard in graduate school.
“Tim bore his testimony to me and planted the seed,” he says. “I investigated off and on for over a decade before I put Moroni’s promise to the test and got a response that was overwhelming.”
It was Ballard’s same conviction of heart that convinced Osborne to leave behind a stellar career in government to join Operation Underground Railroad. “There was something about what he said and the way he said it,” Osborne recalls. “At the end of the day, I can say I did this for the right reason—for the possibility of doing good. That’s what ultimately led me to jump.”
According to Osborne, having a team of people who sincerely desire to be humble and righteous has made all the difference.
“We pray constantly,” he says. “We pray for protection. We pray for guidance—to find the children, to find the honest government officials in other countries. It’s very difficult to know whom to trust.”
“We aren’t a vigilante group, and we never try to force things to happen,” says Turley. “We do everything we can, but things will happen on the Lord’s time—that’s when it is the most productive.”
“Some of the most spiritual moments of my life have happened while sitting across the table from a child trafficker,” Ballard says. “I feel the Spirit with me in those moments of complete darkness.”
Operation Triple Take
Ballard’s team found tremendous success on nearly a dozen operations last year, but the crowning achievement of Operation Underground Railroad in 2014 occurred on October 11, when, in cooperation with the Colombian government, they executed the largest-known human trafficking bust to date.
“We performed three operations within an hour of each other in three Colombian cities: Cartagena, Armenia, and MedellÃn,” says Osborne. “They resulted in the rescue of 123 victims and the arrest of a dozen criminals. The traffickers [in each city] were not connected, but we wanted to take them down at the same time so we could keep the element of surprise.”
Ballard, who served a mission in Chile and speaks fluent Spanish, participated in the Cartagena operation, just off the coast in the Rosario Islands. In a dramatic sting, he posed as an American businessman who wanted to rent a beach house and throw an elaborate party for his friends—complete with children for their “entertainment.”
Ballard had originally arranged for the traffickers to bring 20 children at $300 apiece. When he learned the traffickers wanted to build a child sex hotel on the island, though, he saw the opportunity to rescue 30 more. So Ballard asked a friend in the real estate business to pose as a potential investor.
“Mark* (name has been changed) is a successful real estate mogul. He can talk the talk, so we knew he would be perfect for this mission,” Ballard says. “I told the traffickers they would have to show us bigger numbers before Mark would be interested in investing, so the traffickers arranged to bring all the children they had to the party—even those still being ‘groomed,’ or prepared for life in the sex trade.” This included four virgins as young as 11 years old that came with a hefty price tag of $1,000 each.
The children were brought by boat to the island. With hidden cameras rolling, money exchanged hands, and a Colombian operative gave the signal for law enforcement to make their move. But there was a snag.
“Agents were supposed to storm the beach within five minutes of the signal, but it took 45 minutes for them to get there,” Mark recalls. “I thought, ‘What am I supposed to do now? It’s time for the party to start.’”
In an effort to stall the traffickers and keep them at the table, he started drawing up a business plan for their hotel. “Right at the top of the paper, I had written the cost of a child. It was sickening,” he says. “But it worked. By the end, they were arguing over who would get what percentage.”
Finally, 30 Colombian agents hit the beach and stormed the house.
One of the hardest parts for the undercover operatives is resisting the urge to comfort the children. Instead, they allow the children to believe they are pedophiles to maintain the integrity of the mission.
“When the takedown happens, we’re arrested along with the bad guys so we don’t blow our cover,” says Osborne.
In this instance, however, someone outside the team told the children that the operatives were the good guys, and as Ballard’s team left the island, they could hear the children cheering and singing and laughing. “It was very emotional,” says Osborne.
“There were Navy Seals in tears. It was a tender mercy that the Lord allowed Tim to have this connection with these kids on his last undercover mission.” (Ballard and Turley have since chosen to end their undercover work so they can bring more awareness to the public about modern-day slavery and raise donations for Operation Underground Railroad, but they are still deeply involved behind the scenes of each rescue mission.)
Three months after Operation Triple Take, Ballard returned to the streets of Colombia and began asking local traffickers if they could sell him a child for the night. “They told me, ‘Don’t you know? No one is going to sell you kids now. It’s too dangerous.’ We created a huge deterrent for the traffickers and scared off the sex tourism travelers,” he explains. “We rocked the whole country.”
Since October, Colombia has completed five operations of their own—and that is exactly what Operation Underground Railroad hopes every country will do. “Our goal is to work with these governments, teach them what they need to know, and show them that they can do this so they can have the confidence to do this without us,” says Turley. “We can’t save everyone, but as more countries join in the fight, we can make a huge difference.”
A Life of Freedom
The rescue missions don’t end at the arrests of the traffickers; a great deal of care is given to the children after they are freed.
“The most important part of the operation is the rehabilitation of the children,” says Osborne. “We partner with organizations who are skilled at that, and we screen reputable orphanages ahead of time, so when children are rescued they have somewhere safe to go. Unfortunately in many cases, family members are the ones who have sold these children into slavery, so they can’t go home. We want to keep the safety net as tight as possible so the victims never return to that way of life.”
“Every child is precious,” he says. “We can’t solve this problem overnight, but by just saving one child, we can give them back the life that God intended for them.”
As for the tiny brother and sister Ballard “purchased” in Haiti last February, the children’s parents couldn’t be located or identified. Ballard, who bonded with the siblings during the sting, couldn’t bear to leave them behind, so he and his wife are in the process of adopting them.
“They are already part of our family,” he says.
A Beacon for Change
In addition to executing rescue missions around the world, Ballard’s team is developing software that will track child pornography and lead law enforcement to the pornographers.
“The problem of child sex slavery is 100 percent the societal consequence of our pornographic world,” Ballard explains. “Pornography is a drug. Adult pornography is marijuana, and child pornography is the cocaine. When people move on to child pornography, eventually they want the real thing. This software will change everything.”
To date, Operation Underground Railroad has conducted rescue missions in Haiti, Guatemala, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Thailand, and the United States, but according to Ballard, this is just the beginning.
“We have been getting requests from governments all over the world,” he says. “We have several cases pending, and we never know when we’ll have to jump on a plane. It could be tomorrow. But my wife doesn’t even complain—she knows this is what we are meant to do.”
“The only thing that stands between evil taking over this world is good people who face their fears and take action,” says Mark. “People who do nothing allow evil to flourish. I can’t sit back and allow atrocities to happen. I’m not going to allow my fear to stop me from doing what is right.”
To donate to Operation Underground Railroad or learn more about the organization, visit ourrescue.org.
The Abolitionists
When Gerald Molen, Church member and Academy Award–winning producer of Schindler’s List, learned of Timothy Ballard’s efforts to rescue children from sex traffickers, he knew he had to capture the story for the big screen.
“We want to create awareness of this problem. I’m excited to help in the little way that I can,” he says.
With hidden cameras rolling on every Operation Underground Railroad mission, Molen’s film crew captured powerful footage of the operations that not only makes for a compelling documentary but provides irrefutable evidence that leads to the conviction of child traffickers.
“The footage we shoot becomes an evidence package to help prosecute criminals,” says co-producer and director Darrin Fletcher.
“There’s no doubt when the judge sees that evidence. It seals the deal.”
“We’ve felt a hand on our shoulder guiding us the entire time,” says Chet Thomas, co-producer and director. “There’s a reason for this beyond a movie or a television series.”
Timothy Ballard is the founder and CEO of Operation Underground Railroad. He is also the author of the best-selling book The Lincoln Hypothesis and the new book, The Washington Hypothesis. He will be a speaker at certain Time Out for Women events in 2016. Visit tofw.com to learn more.
Published on Jan 3, 2015
On December 10th, 2013 Special Agent Tim Ballard turned in his Homeland Security badge and resigned from his employment with the United States government. He had spent over a decade rescuing children from child sex tourism both domestically and overseas. Though his job was difficult, he was proud that his country was one of very few in the world who was actually doing anything about this problem. However, mired in red tape and bureaucracy, Tim left to begin saving the children that he saw falling out of the purview of the US government. These children constitute over 90% of the children lost to child sex slavery and he could do nothing to help them while in the employment of the US government.
This is a story about the lost children and the OURrescue.com jump team’s exploits as they investigate and liberate enslaved children from around the world.
