Culture Kids Troisième

Third Culture Kids

Third Culture Kids is an expression used here to describe a state of being for children of missionaries, embassy, military, etc, kids.  It refers to children who do not live in the place where they were born and instead live in a culture different from theirs, belonging “no where.”  They don’t really fit in their place of origin and yet they never quite “fit” into the place or places that their parents'  assignments take them.  They are without a culture so to speak.

We feel like Third Culture Kids.  We don’t really fit here for several reasons.  First, we are from America and used to the American way of doing things and the American way is quite a bit different than the Nigerian way.  

Second, we don’t speak the language or languages here.  That is a big issue.  As we have now been here awhile, the people at the center are less attentive, as they should be, to our inability to understand French.  They forget we are clueless.  After prayer time last week, three women, who are English speakers, were talking in French while Elgin and I were just sitting there listening.  We listened very closely to get the gist of their conversation.  We concluded that they were talking about the dangers of traveling in Eastern Niger.  Turns out they were talking about where to buy cloth for dresses.

Third, we are in a different stage of life than the people here.  They are young and we aren’t.  They are in the “raising kids” stage of life and we aren’t.  

Fourth, we are not missionaries nor are we bible translators.  There is a common community here of people with the same interests and experiences.  While we really appreciate who they are and what they do, their lives are very different from ours.

So we got to thinking that like the kids, being misfits is really hard.  Poor us...  Well maybe not.  Maybe we, like the kids, are being given a gift.  Not so much a gift of having this added dimension to our life but rather the gift of belonging to God.  The gift of being in the world but not of the world.  It is not so much a matter of do I fit or not but instead what is God showing me, teaching me – about HIS world, His creation, His way of living and relating.  I think Paul could say that he learned to be content in all circumstances because it was not the circumstances that defined Paul.  God defined Paul.  Paul believed that God was in each and every breath, each and every circumstance, he did not depend on his circumstances for his peace, contentment, or purpose, but on God. 

For us, to be in circumstances that force us to be dependent upon God, to fit into His plan, is a gift.  We long to be God Culture Kids. 

Merci, mon Dieu.