There I sat on the hard floor with my arm leaning against the wood post that made up the

bottom half of the bunk bed. My butt was starting to get numb as a listened to the little girl talk
with her head on the pillow, fingers twiddling, as she lay there attempting to fall asleep. Every
few minutes she would wiggle around and try to get more comfortable. Each new position never
seemed to help and the end product seemed to be her blanket falling off. At which point I would
promptly wrap back around her small frame. It was dark and late and my eyes were beginning to
ache. It was only eleven oclock but after the day of activities with my two campers I could feel
my bodys need for sleep. I had been sitting there for over an hour trying to comfort her into a
slumber with no such luck.
My little camper giggled, What if we took the lasagna and woke her up and she just
started eating it?! I laughed more at her laughter than at the actual joke. My other camper laid
sound asleep in the top bunk, her belly full of the lasagna dinner she had loved so much earlier
that night, the same lasagna dinner that my never-sleeping
camper spoke of. I replied, She would have sauce stains all over
her cute Hello Kitty blanket! A look of sheer horror crossed her
face as she backtracked in her joke, maybe we could give her a
plate too. I nodded in agreement that this plate would fix all the
flaws in her youthful prank. That sweet smile returned and I could not help but grin to myself
and be grateful for this experience. I may have had to consciously remind myself every few
minutes to keep my eyes open but I reminded myself that I had this opportunity to spend a short
amount of time with this wonderful girl. I could only thank God for this wonderful moment.
After coming back from my own thoughts, I realized the
conversation had changed. She trailed off with, we fight a

lot. Confused, I had to ask who she was speaking about and she explained herself further. My
sister and me. We share a room. One time she threw a pillow at me. I hit the end of my bed and it
chipped my tooth. I was quite surprised, why did she throw a pillow at you? That sounds like it
would have hurt! The look of surprise on my face must have registered with her because again
she started to explain herself. Well I was saying something about my dad. She said I cant talk
about him. Im not supposed to talk about him.
As this conversation turned from jokes about our lasagna dinner to a much more serious
topic, my brain began to buzz because this little girl needed someone to listen and support her.
A moment of silence and the conversations mood shifted. Though I was not sure if she
talked about her biological or new adopted family, I did not ask because I knew I did not actually
need to know in that moment. Then the words came spilling out of her mouth; nothing specific,
just my dad did bad things. I cant say, but bad things. A glaze came over her face, her eyes
were distant. I realized that those memories were bursting in her mind and what she needed was
to tell someone something, anything. Her tone was much too old for her age; telling me she had
seen and experienced things no little girl should ever have to.
The United States has more than three million reports of child abuse involving more than
six million children per year. (Childhelp, 2014). We would like to think that all children live
happy, innocent lives filled with Disney movies and ice cream sandwiches but with a statistic
like that, to think that we wont somehow be involved in at least one childs experience of child
abuse is almost an absurd thought.
Child abuse occurs in different forms and each has different signs. The four types are:
physical, sexual, emotional abuse, and neglect. Physical abuse can be detected by observing
body language, bruises, or fear of adults. Sexual abuse can be detected by a childs reaction to

sex either being avoidant of the subject or inappropriate interest or knowledge of sex, or fear of a
particular individual person or family member. Emotional abuse is often paired with another
form of abuse and can have the longest lasting negative effect on children psychologically.
Neglect can come in many forms. Physical, educational, and emotional are all types of emotional
neglect. You can suspect that neglect is occurring when a child is dirty, hungry, wearing
inappropriate clothing for the weather, or has a lack of adult supervision. (Tracy) The graph
above shows that the most common form of
abuse is neglect, accounting for 64% of abuse
reports. Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse
come next. Emotional abuse can often be hard to
detect. It is important to understand that types
of abuse that can occur and how to detect them.
Royal Family Kids Camp is the organization that gave me the opportunity to spend time
with my little camper. The goal of the organization is simple:
Confronting abuse. Changing lives. Founding by Wayne and
his wife Diane Tesch in1985, the organization currently has
200 different camp locations. It was originally constructed to
give children of abuse and neglect a five day camp experience that many would not ever have the
opportunity to have. (KIDS, Royal Family) The camp is run through church groups and each
year the camp focuses on a different Bible story that shows the love that God has for each child.
As Ive heard my camp director say on many occasions each year I have had the chance to
volunteer, We are here to bring the idea of Gods unconditional love to children who have yet to
know this wonderfulness. She says it often and always with a smile across her face; because
what a beautiful message that is.

I have had the opportunity to know my little camper for two years now, though Ive only
spent two weeks with her within that time frame. I spend a lot of my time during the rest of the
year thinking of her, thinking of the other campers. I wonder what they are doing, how they are
doing, and I pray that wherever they are and whatever they are doing, that they are doing well.
That they can live their lives as happily as they deserve, knowing that they have the love of God
with them.
I do not know what made my little camper open up to me that night. If it was something I
said that day or staying up with her when she couldnt sleep. Could it have been that I had the
ability to give her my undivided attention, something she may have never experienced?
Whatever I did I gave her a reason to trust me with some of her most inner thoughts. I was her
witness, hopefully one of many, who was there to help her come to terms with her experience. If
the only thing I could do for her was listen for a night, I am glad I was able to.

Works Cited
National Child Abuse Statistics. (2014, August 31). Retrieved September 1, 2014.
"Our History." Royal Family KIDS. Royal Family KIDS, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Tracy, Natasha. "Types of Child Abuse." Healthy Place: America's Mental Health Channel.
Health Place, 27 June 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2014.