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TCKid Launches Interview Series

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(For Local San Antonio News)

Date:  October16, 2013

Contact:  Myra Dumapias Executive Director, TCKid  MyraDumapias@tckid.com

[For radio, please note: “TCKid” is pronounced “Tee See Kid”]

 

 

 

 

 

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” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m6dV7Xo3Vc, http://blog.ted.com/2013/06/13/where-is-home-pico-iyer-at-tedglobal-2013/). 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.

 

 

 

Written by Myra Dumapias

October 18, 2013 at 4:44 pm