By Linda Sue
As you pray for American students and teachers this new schoolyear, remember the American TCKs around the globe, and in your classrooms. Third Culture Kids (TCKs) are those being raised in a culture other than their parents’ or the culture of their national identity. Military kids, children of diplomats, oil company or international corporation kids, and missionary kids fall under this umbrella term. Many families homeschool in Asia due to the lack of appropriate schools where they live or for consistency in learning. In certain parts of the world missionary kids do not have that option and must go to host nation or international schools. Security breaches and COVID-19 brought numerous families abruptly back to the US, disrupting their children’s education and way of life. For this article I asked missionary families I’m connected with a question: Due to the global pandemic and security issues, what challenges are you now facing, and how can we pray for you? I heard from families in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Taiwan, Kenya, Russia, Colombia, and Spain.
Major challenges: Number one seems to be isolation and total lack of socialization. TCKs often deal with isolation due to cultural and language differences. Add to this COVID and massive losses. Most of these countries had hard lockdowns, where only one adult was allowed to go out to the store. The children were not allowed out at all. Some countries lacked the internet capability to conduct school online-only the international schools. Homeschool materials were almost impossible to come by and had to be hand-carried in country, which due to travel restrictions, rarely happened. International schools are having an extremely difficult time getting and retaining teachers, meaning the students had multiple teacher changes in one school term, or no teacher at all. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, the national schools remain closed. Missionary families in northern Afghanistan were attending a retreat this summer when the Taliban took over. They packed for only two weeks. Additional families were evacuated by July 24, taking only what they could pack in one suitcase. As with families in China, they left their entire households, vehicles, and pets behind. Pray for provision, needed adjustments, and emotional support as TCKs face these challenges.
Pray for new friends in their different learning situations: high schoolers beginning boarding school thousands of miles from their parents and host nation, starting school in the US for the first time, or returning to their host nation after being in the US for an extended period. These are challenging times for all students, regardless of their global location. Support them in prayer to the One who truly understands.
LINDA SUE taught for twenty–three years for Volusia District Schools in various positions and schools. She spent two years teaching military dependents in northern Germany and seventeen years teaching in Asia. For many of those years, she served as an education consultant for American missionary families, as well as host nation schools.