Third Culture Kid

I am a Third Culture Kid (TCK). A TCK is defined as "a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture" by sociologist Ruth Hill Useem. Adults who were TCKs in their childhood are known as Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs). An example of an ATCK would be President Barack Obama.

Third Culture Kids may come from a variety of backgrounds and families. Examples of TCKs might include military/army brats, children whose parents are personnel of multinational corporations (e.g. Apache, Coca-Cola), children whose parents belong to the diplomatic corps of a nation (e.g. the State Department of the USA, the French Embassy in Italy), or the children of missionaries/religious workers. Many of them will have attended international schools as a result, although some may be home-schooled depending on the nature of their parents' work.

My mother is Tunisian and my father is half-French, half-Tunisian. My father worked for the World Health Organisation (WHO), an intergovernmental organisation and agency of the UN. As such, my elder sister and I were both born in Manila, Philippines. Our family has lived in Laos, the Philippines, Egypt, and France, while my sisters and I have both studied and lived between England and France. My sisters and I have both attended international schools in Egypt and my eldest sister attended university in Canada.

For any questions regarding the life of an expatriate, international schools, and/or children who might have lived outside of their home country, feel free to contact me by note.