MK forum

Have had a discussion with some other former MKs. They will not use the term MK because we are no longer kids. Does this term bother you? Do you use it? What would you use instead of MKs?

I WAS an mk.
I am a survivor.

then
now

I live to tell the tale.

Its who I am. Before FE I was embarrassed to mention my NTM past, now I accept it. It wouldn't have been my choice of childhood but it is what life dealt so why deny it?

I still embrace it, even at my age. When I was a kid, I was a missionaries' kid. Everyone is shaped immensely during their childhood. That's like someone saying they were a farm kid, or a city kid (to me). Of course many of us carry it a step further and use it in the present tense. I still call myself an MK, and it's obvious I am no longer a kid!

But I would love to hear the point of view of those who do not wish to use the term, or are bothered by it. I hope others will post about this because I am forever curious.

I`m not bothered by MK. I agree with Raz. Being an mk greatly affected our lives.

I'm not at all bothered by the term MK, it is for me a defining part of who I am. There is also the term AMK, which is Adult MK, but I find it must easier just to say MK.

Does it cause mission boards to look at us as just kids? Kids are loud and obnoxious therefore can be ignored.

I guess I haven't used the term MK for along time, primarily because I'm around people who wouldn't know what I meant anyway. I think the term TCK is more appropriate (Third Culture Kid) and I would use that one first. It think that's what really shaped us - what made us "misfits" so many times. Then I think about my own children - not sure what initials to put on them. They are third-generation MK's, or M's. My parents and my in-laws were all missionaries, my husband and I are Tambo MKs, and TCKs, and then we returned to the field on our own. So what does that make our kids? Very confused? FCKs? (no comments, please) Fourth Culture Kids?

I proudly wear the title of 'MK' I am different, think different, have different values.. I AM UNIQUE AND DIFFERENT.


I AM AN 'MK'

Even through the bad things I would never want to change the privilege that I had of growing up with the Yura Indians. They were and are my great friends and wonderful memories lay in that fact. It helps overshadow the time at boarding school. In my time of great sorrow...I returned to my Yura friends and found comfort.

There is no way to explain, to someone who hasn't experienced it, how incredibly enriching those connections are to people in remote villages with simpler lifestyles, who loved us when were were small, and love us still, welcoming us on occasional visits like long-lost family members.

Those of us who have known that cross-cultural closeness are so deeply blessed.