Military Brats, Third Culture Kids: Children of the World?

Thanks goes to my friend Natasja, a third culture kid who sent me this poem. Now I can share it with you. Laura, the author of the poem is a military child, just like Natasja was. The children of military personnel are some times called military brats. It is a recognized term of cultural identity. Military brats fit into the description of third culture kids though there are some unique features of course.

I am amazed that a child of 11 years old can write a poem like this. What struck me too is that she mentions the themes third culture kids struggle with.

What are your thoughts after reading this poem?

More information:

• Militartfamily.org There is a free toolkit there for working with militarykids
• Militarybratlife.com

"Moving never easy, yet inevitable"

In September I wrote a blog using the "Where I'm from" template. I challenged you to share with us where you are from. So first Lucia Bodeman accepted the challenge, so did my sister and now it's Natasja's turn. Thank you to these brave ladies. If you're interested you can find the template here. So now it's over to Natasja:

Where I'm from

I am from the peaceful green grasslands amongst the hills, from Chappies (bubble gum), home schooling and hutspot*.
I am from a zinc roof house, tall eucalyptus trees and log wood fires to warm the house.
I am from climbing guava trees, purple bougainvillea and the lovely sights of elephants bathing in the Chobe river.
I am from Blue Airmail envelopes that brought family a little closer, red dust roads, from the most beautiful sunsets ever seen.
I am from Sunday school, death celebrations, juju. Burned corn and fufu.
I am from Cameroon, Botswana and The Netherlands. Moving never easy, yet inevitable.
I am from Sinterklaas, hagelslag** and drop***. From tulips, clogs and oliebollen. From seasons never changing, always hot and dry.
I am from Christmas trees made out of pine wood branches and hand made decorations, home made bread and custard for breakfast.
I am from a place I never belonged and one I never fit into.
I am from fragments, neither here nor there.
I am from all the places I left behind.

* hutspot is a typical Dutch dish that is traditionally eaten in the winter. The dish is made out of potatoes, carrots, onions and more
** hagelslag: chocolate sprinklers
*** drop: liquorish

Thank you Natasja. For people (like me) who grew up in different countries or cultures it can be healing to write about it. In writing you can actually join all the fragments and make a whole. Join all the pieces. Bind all the dots and make something beautiful. Have you written about your experiences? If you want to share your story with us you can send me an email.

Related posts

Guavas photo from Morguefile

Third Culture Kid do you dare to be Green?
Guest Third Culture Kid Poem by Marina Sofia "Who am I?"
Cultural Identity Confusion and Third Culture Kids
Third Culture Kid Speaking "I'm Not From Anywhere"

Guestblog by Marit: Health Issues Growing up Abroad

I met Marit online through our blogs. Marit grew up as a third culture kid, she lived in more continents than I did. We both spent some years in Africa, we nearly went to the same boarding school in Kenya. Marit writes a Dutch blog about her experiences growing up abroad: Opgroeien in het Buitenland. I invited Marit to share her experiences here. Now it's over to her:

Long ago I fell in love with tropical fruits: a heritage of growing up abroad

Well I have to confess that my third culture kid heart has been beating faster the last few weeks. I have been travelling! I had the privilege of spending some time in Indonesia. Even though I grew up in Africa and have only recently travelled to Asia a couple of times I have discovered that I feel at home in Asia too. 

I love the tropical fruit juices. There is just nothing like the taste of well ripened mango's. Every now and then I am tempted into buying a mango here in the Netherlands but it either rots or just does not taste good, it usually turns into a disappointment.

It was really warm here and this cool mango juice was such a delight. Apparently mango's were part of my basic diet when I grew up in Zambia. There are photo's of me in diapers when I was a couple of years old sucking on a mango pip.

Other juices I enjoyed were avocado, pineapple, banana, guava and papaya (pawpaw) juice. Seeing all these papaya's in the supermarket excited me. We used to have papaya trees in our backyard. I remember the days my dad used a long stick to get the fruits down. He made us stand on guard and catch the fruits as the fell down. It was so stressful. Low and behold if the papaya splat on the ground. Believe me papaya's make a real splat, it can make a real mess.   

Smells bring back memories but so can your taste buds bring back memories.
What did you fall in love with growing up abroad? What foods brings back your memories?





Related posts:

• My heritage of growing up overseas: Respect for malaria
• My heritage of growing up overseas: A Heart for the children of the World
• My heritage of growing up overseas: Close encounters of a tropical kind

Yes, I won an award!

It's a good tradition to celebrate achievements. So let's celebrate the fact that I have been nominated for the "Versatile Blogger" award. I have to confess I have actually been nominated twice. I was nominated by Wordgeyser first and then by a fellow third culture kid Expat Alien. Thanks to you both!

Of course there are Versatile Blogger rules. I may nominate new bloggers and I must tell 7 things about myself.

First I will tell 7 things about myself:

1. I failed my drivers license test more than 3 times, I did get it in the end. I did the tests in Zimbabwe and I actually had to use hand signals too. I must confess that was ages ago. Lesson learned: never give up.
2. I was born on a mission station in the Zambian bush. My parents received a chicken as a present when I was born. Lesson learned: good things can happen where ever you live.
3. I just adore ripe juicy tropical fruits, it's a heritage of growing up in Africa. You know the mango's, passion fruits, gooseberries, papayas, bananas just don't taste the same here in Europe. Lesson learned: eat the local fruits and enjoy them to the full. 
4. I was a school prefect at high school, most Dutch people have no idea what a prefect is or does. Lesson learned: a as third culture kid I often have to explain things to other people.
5. I love ice skating even though I was about thirteen when I went ice skating for the first time in my life. Recently I wrote about ice skating fever here in the Netherlands. Lesson learned: You're never too old to learn something new!
6. I have been writing on this blog for less than a year and I really enjoy it. Third culture kids love exciting new things. Lesson learned: I love new adventures and challenges.
7. One of my favourite drinks is: Tjendol (or Cendol), in good Indonesian restaurants you can get it here in the Netherlands. It's just divine. It's with coconut milk and palm sugar. Lesson learned: you're never too old to taste something new. 

   

   Tjendol

   Now for nominating the new bloggers:

1. Mummy in Provence: I enjoy her global differences series about having a baby abroad.
2. Expat Life with a double buggy: I like Amanada's posts because she write about being an expat mum here in the Netherlands.
3. Tales from Windmill fields: Having lived most of her life in Spain Rosalind is now raising a trilingual daughter here in the Netherlands. Her blogs are about her new adventure here.
4. Raising third culture kids She is married to a German TCK and writes about here "fusion family".
5. Julia Simens is author of the book "Emotional Resilience and the Expat Child" and she is educator. Her words of wisdom and experience are worth reading.
6. Libby Stephens is a Third Culture Kid consultant and writes about children growing up in other cultures and everything that has to do with it.
7. Third Culture Kid Life by James R. Mitchener. I like the writing style and the topics too!
   
   
   Congratulations to all the above mentioned bloggers. Thank you for who you are and for your blog.
   

My heritage of growing up overseas. Part 2: a heart for the children of this world

Today, the 20th of November it's Universal Children's Day. This day is internationally known as the international day for children. So that's what I will to write about today. You probably know that I grew up in Africa and now live in the Netherlands. Recently I wrote about My Heritage of growing up overseas part 1: Respect for malaria. Today I will write about my heart for the children of the world. As a child I say parents in Malawi who had to walk for more than an hour to get health drinking water for their children. I saw children begging on the streets, holes in their clothes. I saw children who could not go to school because there was no money to pay school fees. I saw rich kids too but the children in need made a lasting impression on me. Somethings in life you just don't forget!

'

The 20th of November marks the day on which the United Nations general Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989 (now 22 years ago).

What are children's rights?

1. All children have the same rights. All children have the right to life through the provision of basic needs - water, food, shelter and health care.
2. Adults have to think what is best for the children when they decide about things. All children should be safeguarded against all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation, and are entitled to live in a safe and caring environment.
3. All children have the right to live and develop. All children should be able to grow to their full potential through quality education, leisure and play.
4. All children have the right to say what they think and be respected.

Just a little more history: in 1953 the United Nations general Assembly proclaimed that Universal Children's Day would take place annually on the 20th of November. The problem is that in 1925 the World Conference for the Well-being of Children in Geneva, Switzerland proclaimed June 1 to be International Children's Day.  So now Children's day is celebrated on different dates around the world.

To  celebrate Universal Children's Day young people from across the globe created the video project "We will change everything". This creative collaboration shows the power of the web, as the filmmakers have not met most kids, yet the children managed to create a song about their hopes and dreams. The video clip was shown during TEDxYouthDay 2010 in 60 different cities and it invites you to contribute too! Watch and enjoy it.

Today there is a Tedx Youthday in Amsterdam. Children and young people are able to express there ideas. They have a right to say what they think and be respected!

Here is a short film about the millennium goals of the UN. Unicef (the United Nations Children fund) lets us know that 6 of 8 goals are related to children's welfare. The target date is 2015. So there is a short time to go. The goals which affect children are the following 6:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Less children are hungry.
2. Achieve universal primary education. All children have primary school education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality, so less children die.
5. Improve maternal health. Healthier and happier mothers.
6. Combat Hiv/Aids, malaria and other diseases. Less parents get sick, healthier families.

Let's hope this world will become a better place for our children to grow up in. What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you seen children that have left a lasting impression on you?

My heritage of growing up overseas. Part 1: Respect for malaria

Sometimes things happen in your life that leave a lasting impression on you. When I was a teenager in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe I attended a funeral of a mother of friends of mine. I was probably about 15 years old at the time. The mother of this Swedish family of four children died of malaria in Zimbabwe. It was such a sad occasion. There were tears everywhere. Maybe it remains imprinted in my memory because I come from a family of four kids too. Maybe I thought it could have happened to me too. The children did not only lose their mother, they returned back to Sweden and had to say goodbye to all their friends. They left their home, their school, their playmates and their memories in Africa. So tragic. The worst part of it all is that malaria is and was at that time a curable disease. Since then I have a deep respect for malaria. I did some research on malaria and my respect only increased. Recently Wordgeyser wrote a post preparing for the worst: the death of a spouse overseas. You know these things do happen. This is a real world we live in. So here comes more about my heritage: the deep respect for malaria.

Malaria is caused by a parasite of the genius plasmodium. It is spread from person to person by the bites of infected mosquitoes.

Here are 10 facts about malaria:

1. About 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria.
2. It leads to approximately 1 million deaths every year.
3. 1 in every 5 childhood deaths in Africa is due to malaria.
4. Every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa. So while you were reading this list another child just died in Africa due to malaria.
5. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment are two basic elements of malaria control.
6. If not treated with effective medicines malaria can often be fatal.
7. Pregnant women are at high risk not only of dying from the complications of severe malaria, but also spontaneous abortion, premature delivery or stillbirth. 
8. Malaria is also a cause of severe maternal anaemia and is responsible for about one third of preventable low birth weight babies.  
9. Long-lasting insecticidal nets can be used to provide protection to risk groups, especially young children and pregnant women in high transmission areas.
10. Malaria is preventable and curable.

This is information from the World Health Organisation (WHO). There is a list available famous people who died of malaria. At the expat Info desk I discovered that they recently warned expats that malaria is on the rise. The advice is the same for all travelers - you must take anti-mosquito precautions and medication to keep safe. We in the west have everything so well organized and I think we forget the force of nature, and the suddenness of disease and death. Here are the malaria symptoms and more information about diagnosis. Recently two Dutch tourists died of malaria which they caught in Gambia. They did not take anti-malaria medication. Here is an article by the BBC Malaria: a major global killer.

Please join the "have respect for malaria club". What is your experience with malaria? Do you have advice for others on this subject. Please share your experience or your advice with us.