Rob and Heather Blanks MOZAMBIQUE

Third Culture Kid —

An individual who, having spent a significant part of the developmental years in a culture other than the parents’ culture, develops a sense of relationship to  all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any.  Elements from each culture are incorporated into the life experience, but the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar experience.

David C. Pollock

Rob and I are in Orlando, FL for a conference about educational planning for our children on the mission field.  We left a few days early to have to some time together before the conference and we have been gone from our little people for almost a week with 2.5 days left to go!  We have already learned so much and the conference has been so beneficial.  We’re down here in tropical Florida thinking through complex issues of the kids’ personalities and learning styles, their stages of childhood development, available educational options, etc.   It includes discussing how one ‘abstract random’ parent and one ‘abstract sequential’ parent teach a ‘concrete random’ child who is kinesthetic learner but the parents are visual and auditory. If it sounds confusing and complicated, well, that’s because it is…and isn’t!  The learning theory and child development  information sounds messy but it is insightful and helpful.  The mix of four different children and two parents ( who are nearly opposite) make it a bit sticky.   That is to say nothing of the different schooling options in several upcoming locations.  Basically, by the end of our conference week we will have built a plan for the rest of our kids’ lives under our care (gasp). That sounds somewhere between unrealistic and devious!  No, seriously, we are feeling the weight of being good caretakers with the four precious little lives that God has entrusted to us.  At the same time, we are aware of our desperate need for His wisdom and guidance in the planning process and the days of education to come.  We need His grace to cover their lives through so much transition.  We ask for your prayers for the kids–for good schooling experiences and faith to trust in God during difficult seasons which we know will come.

Honestly, it has been painful at times for us to sit through a conference and listen to lectures about and plan for things that you KNOW will be hard for your kids.  The first session, our speaker talked about the difficulties and effects of growing up as a TCK. At one point, I (Heather) was asking myself , “why would you do this to your children…on purpose?”.  She went on to explain that sometimes they turn out really well.  For instance, the next president of the United States will be a TCK.  Before you get nervous…both parties nominees are TCK’s!  So, as unnatural as it feels to expose our kids to hardship we are working out our faith (with fear and trembling) to trust that God will use it for the kids’ good and for His glory!

In the meantime, we are so anxious to leave all the       abstract and sequential theories behind and go back to our concrete and random little people– where our real world is with its chalk, and Fox and Socks, and Slush, and blankie Cars, and a billion pieces of Lego,and reading The Little Engine That Could by memory, and drinking Chai with too much sugar, and breaking up fights, and holding hands to pray, …back to that wonderfully real world!

On a road trip recently, Heather and I listened to A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beahon, on CD–minus the first CD which was missing when we got it from the library.  I recommend this book for a glimpse into the horrors and depravity of the world of boy soldiers in Africa.  It will open your eyes, and may cause you to feel physically sick.  Warning, some of its graphic material would cause many R-rated action movies to reel.  

It offers a window into the world of syncretism–the mixing and matching of different parts of multiple religions.  In this case it is the mixing of Islam with Anamism.

Here is an example Ishmael gives us:  Ishmael has a very good memory, even photographic.  His good memory is no accident.  It comes from his grandfather who had a special Arabic prayer for good memory.  This prayer was written out with chalk in Arabic on a slate.  The chalk was then rinsed off the slate and the water collected in a glass.  Ishmael then drank the solution giving him great memory, which consequently helped him in school.

It is this type of syncretism that we will be facing in Mozambique.