A TCK documentary exploring the world of seven siblings in Ghana, as they adjust to a new culture and wrestle with the questions about home and belonging that all third culture kids can relate to.
Featuring the Gelatt family, missionaries through ABWE. Filmed in November of 2018. No profit is being made from this film.
Soundtrack created by Spencer Parkhurst – check him out on SoundCloud here.
Filmed and edited by Hannah Mathews – check her blog out here.
We’ll unpack our suitcases Begin to embrace this Unfamiliar place so Different from what we’ve known
We’ll learn and go exploring We know our best stories Happen well outside of Our comfort zone
We can make anywhere home
Constant changing is our sameness Uprooting is our routine We’ll bloom in winter Our resilience is our stability
I am all the places that changed me I am all the cities that made me me I am all the people who named me Home is wherever I happen to be
Not a number on a street
I’ll send you a letter We’ll compare the weather I need to borrow languages to tell you how I feel You’ll listen like a true friend Like when we jumped in the deep end We’ve moved six times since then That’s how you know that it’s real
Constant changing is our sameness Uprooting is our routine We’ll bloom in winter Our resilience is our stability
I am all the places that changed me I am all the cities that made me me I am all the people who named me Home is wherever I happen to be
Not a number on a street
I’m moving again Soon you’ll hear it in my accent Uprooting again Daydreaming in past tense
I’ll unpack my suitcases I promise I’ll embrace this Unfamiliar place so Different from what I’ve known
I promise I’ll be open Won’t bury my emotions My heart’s caught between oceans But I can make anywhere home
We can make anywhere home
I am all the places that changed me I am all the cities that made me me I am all the people who named me Home is wherever I happen to be
We are all the places that changed us We are all the cities that shaped us We are all the people who named us Home is wherever we’re known and we’re loved
Not a number on a street
Thoughts from the author:
Just wanted to explain two lyrics. “We are all the people who named us” — When you are invited into a new culture, you are often given a new name. In Oniyan (Bassari)in Senegal, there are ordinal names meaning “first son” or “second daughter” that tell your place in the family. In Southeast Senegal I am “Ingama.” In Dakar, I am “Khady” which is short for Khadija, but works for me because it sounds like “Haddie.” In the US, various groups of friends have given me different nicknames, which is different than cultural names but still, in the act of naming there is affection, a sense of relationship, and belonging. And of course, my parents named me Hadassah, and my family is a part of me as well.
“I am all the people who named me” is another way of saying my identity has been shaped by all the people who are important to me. “Constant changing is our sameness” — sameness being the shared identity of all third culture kids.
What keeps you here I ask my heart Stranger in a strange land, so white, so clean
These fields in June, she laughs Your red-stained fingers A taste of heaven beneath each leaf And this sky expansive and clear
I wonder why, my heart, you hold Steady on small delights after Months of sifting memories Under grey skies Testing each day as we Walk out into this not-all-bad But still foreign place
I am young, says she – A child who races, explores, Finds beauty even here And welcomes the new, trusting Inviting sweet existence even Within this space of not belonging
I hold out for Simple Wonders; Encounters with the Presence
Crouched amongst the rows I ponder this Sifting through the too-soon and the already-past I find it. The ripest, the reddest berry Welcomes me into the perfect balance Proves to me that Yes, child, even here, even you, Have abundant peace. The taste and texture of now.
By Bree Becker, a third culture kid from Rwanda and Kenya who now lives in Oregon, USA.
Milan, New York, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dubai; Tommaso is truly an global citizen! At only eleven years old, Tommaso has had his fair share of good-byes. Listen as he explains what a Third Culture Kid is and how his TCK experience has affected him.
“In Between” is a 23-minute documentary that explores the identity development of people who have grown up as third culture kids. Identity is our sense of who we are and guides our interests and our life choices. Moving between cultures affects the development of identity. Through the stories of three TCKs, the film investigates the often-overlooked effects on adults who had international upbringings.
I come from new names of old lands, Oceans, islands, continents, Snow and sand.
Between the blood spilled for selfish reasons, the crucifixion of sheep as camouflage for our fears; Home…
The place I come from …
Sometimes its people disappear with the wind, Its shape shifts from blinks to tears And whenever it does so it turns me into a foreign, again.
That’s how I get lost; how I get home; simply to leave again.
I come from seashells, different smells, Tastes, colors, Fetishes in the spotlight, the holy of brothels!
Where I come from… I sleep naked, covered by 3 blankets, waking up sweaty. I wear boots at the beach, Slippers at parties and I’m barefoot in the streets. Never ugly, nor pretty, the eccentric, the exotic Neither usual, nor repugnant, yet intriguing, deceiving.
The place I come from is a loop, a pattern in space, not very different from here, quite similar actually! It feels good to be back for the first time; Again.
“This is called the MK Patriot. I made it because many times I feel torn between supporting all the countries I love. I am an MK (missionary kid). I grew up in Panama and Paraguay, and my parents are from the USA and Canada.”
