The Nichols Connection

WHAT DO Sandra Bullock, Ruth Graham (Billy’s wife), M.M. Kaye, the King of Thailand, JRR Tolkein, Viggio Mortensen (played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films), Dave Matthews, Rudyard Kipling, Pearl Buck, Barach Obama and Kobe Bryant all have in common?

They are all TCKs. Third Culture Kids. Kids, including missionary kids, children of diplomats, and military personnel, who grow up or spend a significant part of their lives in a country other than their parents home country-so that a TCK’s home culture becomes a “third” culture different from either their parents or even their adopted land.

” So, where are you from?”

(long pause) “Umm….I am not sure how to answer that.”

If you have been around many TCKs, you will know that single question “where are you from?” stymies them all. You may have heard other answers: “Do you want to know the long version or the short version?”; “Technically, I’m Australian but I grew up in the Philippines“; or even “You know, I wish I knew ...”

The number of TCKs in OMF International is now over 700! This is an incredible increase from 5 years ago, and the numbers continue to rise.

In the Philippines, we have 47 expat TCKS (whose parents come from 10 different countries) currently on the field, as well as numerous children of our Serve Philippines workers who are growing up cross culturally within the Philippines.

Praise the Lord that young families are coming to Asia, willing to serve the Lord in often uncomfortable and surely unfamilar circumstances.

In addition, 30+ young adult TCKs of our current OMF Philippines field members live back in their home countries-or now live abroad themselves. Just consider David and June Griffiths’ grandchildren’s answer to the “where are you from?” question: “Hmm…well, my grandparents are from Wales and England, but my mother Bronwyn was born in Japan, but she went many years to school in the Philippines, but we were born in the UK, but we live in Thailand…” Equally confusing would be David and Ros Dykema’s situation, with their children Katherine and Nathan: a TCK himself, David’s parents were from Canada, but served in Indonesia while David attended Faith Academy here in the Philippines-and he is married to Ros, although from the UK, whose parents are themselves mulicultural.

David and Ros are part of our committed team of OMFers ministering to TCKs and their parents here in the Philippines. Ros not only is our North Philippines TCK adviser, but also teaches in the IGCSE program. 15 of our members serve at Faith Academy in Manila and Mindanao as well informally mentoring students and fellow teachers.

Pray for our OMF personnel in their roles supporting TCKs:

-wisdom, discernment and love in bridging cultural gaps in learning and teaching styles, and in communicating with students, parents and fellow teachers-may there be true unity in diversity and appreciation and understanding for the differences.

-still more teachers especially those able to teach in ESL situations, in the UK’s International General Curriculum program (IGCSE) and in the US’s AP (advanced placement) program

-two couples currently in the OMF pipeline to complete applications and raise financial support

Pray for the parents of our TCKs:

-Godly decisions concerning schooling options and home assignment schedules

-Wise balance of time between ministry and home life, especially for those who are homeschooling as well

Pray for our OMF TCKs:

-quick adjustments as they move back and forth between schooling systems, make friends, say goodbye to familar places and people

-make wise choices in new friends, and dealing with the (often) materialistic cultures of their home countries when they return for home assignments and for tertiary study and work.

A couple of TCK websites that may be of interest:

http://www.mislinks.org/practical/mk.htm

http://www.tckid.com/