Articles >> TCKid Talks on TCKidTV Launch
TCKid Kicks Off Interview Series with Ruth Van Reken
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date released: October16, 2013
Contact:
Myra Dumapias,
Executive Director, TCKid
MyraDumapias@tckid.com
Or
Erin Sinogba,
Executive Assistant,
TCKid ErinSinogba@tckid.com
[For radio, please note: “TCKid” is pronounced “Tee See Kid”]
TCKid Kicks Off Interview Series with Ruth Van Reken
(International) – TCKid: A Home for Third Culture Kids, a non-profit organization whose mission is to increase and support the individual and general awareness of the TCK experience and unique gifts by facilitating connection and community engagement, will kick off its new interview series with Ruth Van Reken, co-author with the late Dave C. Pollock of international bestseller Third Culture Kid: Growing Up Among Worlds.
The interview will be broadcast live on https://www.TCKid.com on Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 at 1500 GMT (10am CDT). Audience of the live broadcast will have the chance to submit questions on our community forum until Oct. 22, or during the Question and Answer session of the interview. Not all questions will be selected but may be combined under a general theme. A recording of the broadcast will remain on TCKid’s page.
[Please click here to submit questions before Oct 22 and please look out for an option to submit questions to the right of the screen during the live broadcast]
Third Culture Kid: Growing Up Among Worlds has remained one of the main resources of knowledge and help for TCK’s and the cross cultural population. “Third Culture Kid was the first book I read and immediately I felt validated. So much of what I’ve experienced since I graduated from my last international school to try and try but failed to fit in as another Filipino-American all of a sudden found the missing piece of the puzzle,” says Myra Dumapias, MSW, TCKid Executive Director who accepted the torch of leadership when Founder Brice Royer searched for a leader who could continue the legacy he created.
“Through conversations I’ve had with countless TCKid members and staff and our discussion boards, I know this book has helped so many other people on that interpersonal level. And professionally, the book also provides substantial information that can be used as a resource for social workers, school counselors and mental health practitioners, as well as other professions,” added Myra, has a background in social work, research and teaching.
Both Ruth*and Myra, who grew up as a daughter of a second generation foreign service diplomat, grew up in five countries, moved a dozen times and attended three high schools before graduating from high school, are part of a global telesummit featuring 28 interview series (Ruth will be interviewed on Oct 22, and Myra will be interviewed on Oct 23) with International Speaker, former USAF Officer, Breakthrough Coach and Transition Expert, Dr. Paulette M. Bethel (Please click here to register for this free global telesummit ASAP).
TCKid will be featuring four types of guests in its series of interviews: 1) Education: authors, researchers, lecturers, etc. 2) Art: filmmakers, visual artists, musicians, performance artists, 3) Leadership: TCK’s/CCK’s in leadership positions, and 4) History: TCK’s /CCK’s who were somehow involved in a historical event.
TCKid Kicks Off Interview Series with Ruth Van Reken with Valuable Information for Expats, Military Brats, and Global Nomads
(San Antonio) – TCKid: A Home for Third Culture Kids, a non-profit organization headquartered in San Antonio that serves those with an international upbringing or career, will launch its new interview series with Ruth Van Reken, co-author with the late Dave C. Pollock of international bestseller, Third Culture Kid: Growing Up Among Worlds on Saturday, Oct 26, 2013 at 10am Central. TCKid serves Third Culture Kid (TCK) adults and youth and the Cross Cultural population across geographical boundaries. TCKid’s mission is to increase and support the individual and general awareness of the TCK experience and unique gifts by facilitating connection and community engagement. TCKid will broadcast the interview with this world-renowned author live on its community forum via http://TCKid.com with a Question and Answer session to allow for the audience to interact with the author.
“There tends to be many Third Culture Kids (TCK’s) out there who don’t even know they are a TCK. Most find out in their 30’s or 40’s and wish they would have known much earlier. I myself only found out about 3 years ago from a work colleague who identified me as such when I mentioned my cultural upbringing,” says Myra Dumapias, TCKid Executive Director. Dumapias is a local resident of San Antonio who accepted the torch of leadership on a pro-bono basis in 2011 when TCKid’s Founder Brice Royer was looking for someone who could continue the legacy he created for the community of TCK’s.
“When I discovered I was a Third Culture Kid, went on TCKid.com and read this book by Ruth Van Reken and Dave C. Pollock, so much of what I’ve experienced since I left the expat community to fit in as another Asian-American… but never fully fit in in ways I could never place my finger on… all of a sudden found the missing piece of the puzzle,” added Dumapias. Dumapias, who grew up as a daughter of a second generation foreign service diplomat, grew up in five countries, moved a dozen times and attended three high schools before graduating from high school.
Van Reken and Pollock, in Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, define a TCK as “a person who spent a significant part of his or developmental years outside the parents’ culture” who “frequently builds relationships to all of the cultures, while not having full ownership in any” (p 15 Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds, Nicholas Brealey Publishing: 2001.)
TCKid identifies four main family backgrounds their members come from: military, missionary, foreign service and multinational corporations.
Those who watched this year’s TedGlobal talks may already be familiar with one experience of TCK’s: that of the elusive process of defining home, as described by Pico Iyer in his talk “Where is Home“. In his talk, Iyer mentions that people living in countries not their own now numbers close to 220 million and refers to the different possible answers to the question, “Where do you come from?”
For TCK’s, explaining where you are from is only one part of the complex experience.
“Growing up with that much transition comes with it a great deal of loss that impacts your education and ways of relating to people, yet the fields of education, social work and mental health for a large part currently underestimate this impact because there is not enough understanding about it, and friends who did not grow up similarly don’t fully understand either,” says Dumapias, who has a Masters in Social Work and a background in non-profit management and human services, research and teaching.
“On the other hand, we are gifted in living in between worlds and are usually insightful about things people do overlook that we have so much to offer in marketing, community relations, philanthropy, management, education, mental health and other areas, beyond what is available in textbooks or classrooms.”
Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds has this review by Wm Paul Young, author of the #1 New York Times Best Seller The Shack:
“As an adult TCK, I have long wrestled with how I fit into this world. This book is the ‘bible’ for anyone who wants to understand the blessings and curses of growing up multi-culturally.”
Another review is by Scott Gration, Maj Gen, USAF (Ret), President Obama’s Special Envoy to Sudan:
“Growing up as a TCK has been a gift and has significantly shaped my life and work. As I interact with world leaders one day and with those living in refugee camps the next, I continually draw upon my experience of living among different cultures. I am delighted to see the lessons learned from the traditional TCK experience live on in this new edition of Third Culture Kids.”
TCKid wants to welcome everyone to join in the broadcast to capture those who may be working with a TCK, or are TCKs themselves, but do not yet know it. TCKid helps the community connect with one another and find a sense of belonging. TCKid will be providing a series of interviews that feature TCK’s who have something educational to share, are in leadership positions, are artists, and have been involved in historical events. After the live broadcast on the 26th, a recording will remain on TCKid.com.
At this time, TCKid is open to working with corporate sponsors and partners who have a heart for this community interested in expanding its international network. TCKid is also in need of more volunteers interested in gaining experience in public relations, grant writing, marketing, social networking, community development, special events planning, fundraising, media and just having fun meeting diverse people around the world. Please contact visit http://tckid.com or email manager@tckid.com for more information on the interview series or organization.
More about the author –
RuthVan Reken is a US citizen who grew up in Nigeria as a second generation third culture kid (TCK)* and raised her three daughters in Liberia. Ruth is co-author of Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds;and author ofLetters Never Sent, her personal journaling written as she sought to understand the long-term impact of her cross-cultural childhood. For nearly thirty years Ruth has traveled extensively both nationally and internationally speaking about issues related to global family lifestyles. Currently, she is seeking to understand how lessons learned from the TCK experience can transfer to others raised among many cultural worlds for various reasons.She is co-founder and past chairperson of the annual Families in Global Transition conference. In addition to her two books, she has written, a chapter in Strangers at Home, Unrooted Childhoods, and Writing Out of Limbo plus various other writings.
Posted in Third Culture Kids News, Uncategorized