{"id":394,"date":"2026-08-30T11:11:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/?p=394"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:11:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:11:20","slug":"the-little-girl-prisoner-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/30\/the-little-girl-prisoner-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Little Girl Prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Little Girl Prisoner<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy Sunday, dear friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week, my mind dwelt on the suffering endured by a little girl, barely twelve years old. When our legal officer in the field\u2014let\u2019s call him Ivan\u2014called to say he had received a horrendous case of child abuse and had seen the photos, I asked him to send them to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are people who prefer not to look at photos of suffering, especially of child abuse. That is completely understandable, particularly if you reason that you cannot do anything about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ivan sent the photos from the field, I did not open them at once. I was afraid of what I would see. There is always that sudden tightening of the stomach and the sinking feeling one gets at the sight of cruel violence. I waited until the next day to look at them. By then, Ivan had told me that the police file indicated the girl had been imprisoned in a room for several weeks, bound by her hands and legs. She was subjected to regular, severe physical abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I finally looked at the photos, I saw a young child in profound pain. In one photo, she is sitting on a plastic chair wearing a green dress and an oversized black hoodie, looking deeply sad with her hands resting on her lap. In another, she is wearing a yellow T-shirt, lying on her side in a hospital bed with a look of agony on her face. Her wrists and ankles bear deep, raw cuts where ropes tore into her flesh, leaving rings of wounds in various stages of healing. Infection has set in, and medical personnel fear that amputation may be necessary if gangrene is found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not know why this child was punished in this way. We do not ask what she did, because asking that would imply she was in some way to blame for the abuse. Instead, we must ask: how could anyone do such a thing?<\/em> This question shifts the focus entirely to the perpetrators, bringing their actions into question, making them responsible for the crime, and holding them to account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be wondering what reading about such cruelty will accomplish, or more importantly, how it helps this little girl. Is there a point in sharing these stories?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having worked to end violence against vulnerable populations for over twenty years, I know that abuse is still all around us, and the fight must continue. I have come to believe that the very least each and every one of us can do is to practice kindness and non-violence in our daily lives. This is especially vital in how we conduct ourselves toward those who are in our power or weaker than us\u2014those who are younger, dependent on us, and yes, even those who act out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes children. It changes how we speak to them, whether we encourage them or criticize them, and whether we truly hear what they have to say or dismiss their opinions. It dictates whether we allow them to misbehave and then intervene with guidance and gentle encouragement instead of resorting to violence. Finally, it determines whether we actively protect them from harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Little Girl Prisoner Happy Sunday, dear friends. This week, my mind dwelt on the suffering endured by a little girl, barely twelve years old. When our legal officer in the field\u2014let\u2019s call him Ivan\u2014called to say he had received a horrendous case of child abuse and had seen the photos, I asked him to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":395,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions\/395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atukiturner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}