When a 12-year-old Medford girl was compelled to testify against the man who sexually abused her at school, her courage faltered.

So during their weekly gathering at the Children's Advocacy Center she voiced her fears to other girls who know the same pain. This mentoring group promotes "normal" activities for seven middle-schoolers — all victims of sexual or physical abuse. By sharing life's trials, they're starting to heal.

"They made me feel confident about myself," the 12-year-old said of her peers. "They told me that I'll get through it and, don't worry, that he'll be punished for what he did."

The girl and her family are now waiting to hear Luis Armando Mesta's sentence. An employee of the school-based clinic Kids Health Connection, Mesta was found guilty March 16 of groping the girl and three younger students at Jackson Elementary School. He faces a minimum prison term of six years and three months. No sentencing date is set.

While the girl's parents wait to confront Mesta in court, the mentoring group restores childhood's simple pleasures like scrapbooking and playing dress-up. Unlike therapy, the group's meetings do not focus on reliving abuse. Instead, adult volunteers foster self-esteem and serve as positive role models while helping the girls with homework and cooking them dinner.

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"So many of these kids have never had anybody sit down and do anything with them," said Marlene Mish, executive director of the Medford-based counseling and treatment center.

"Long-term positive experience will create a child who doesn't feel like a victim, believes in herself and has tools to make healthy decisions," Mish said.

Mish initiated mentoring groups in February to serve 20 girls ranging in age from middle school to high school. A boys group is planned for next year. The yearlong groups, funded with private grants and supported by several community partners, aim to halt the cycle of abuse against the most vulnerable children, Mish said.

In 2005, 835 Jackson County children were victims of abuse — sexual or physical — or neglect, according to Children First for Oregon's most recent statewide data. All of the county's cases are routed through the Children's Advocacy Center, which sees far more sex-abuse cases than battering, Mish said. The Mail Tribune does not identify victims of sex abuse.

Herself, a childhood victim of sexual assault, the 12-year-old's mother thought teaching her kids about appropriate behaviors and situations would keep them safe. Sex abuse, she said, was the one thing she never wanted in common with her children.

Now, the mentoring group is helping her daughter recover from sex abuse in ways she and her own mother never could, the 35-year-old woman said.

"She's actually my hero," the woman said of her daughter. "She's helped me quite a bit.

"I think it's wonderful that she gets to realize there are other children who have gone through the same thing."

From making friends to repairing relationships with parents, the other girls are surmounting more of life's obstacles, said group co-facilitator Anna Loeffler. Rather than hiding behind their sweatshirt hoods, the girls are taking more pride in their appearance. Avoidance of any eye contact has been replaced with laughter, Loeffler said.

"I used to be shy around a lot of people," said another 12-year-old Medford girl described by her peers as fun, happy and kind.

"It just makes me feel a lot safer."

Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail slemon@mailtribune.com.