On Mondays over the next few weeks for something a bit more lighthearted I’ll be posting some very short anecdotes of cross-cultural moments from the last little while. Here’s the first one. Just before Elliot went on school holidays we were talking about playing soccer and he said, “Girls don’t play […]
When you parent cross-culturally, you lose any sense of what is ‘normal’ at what age. Elliot is different to his Australian peers and to his Tanzanian peers, but I don’t even have a good sense of what Aussie mums would think is ‘normal’, and we don’t have many opportunities to hang […]
Arthur and I are not the only ones simultaneously re-entering Tanzania and adjusting to a new place in it. Elliot is too, and I suspect it’s even bigger for him because the ratios of his life are more dramatic. When we returned to Australia last year, he’s lived 85% of his […]
Continuing my series on how to support our family on home assignment, this post is for people in churches, especially the kids ministry team. Our little guy comes along to a different church with us every week, and he does it in a culture that’s foreign to him. So, how […]
I’ve been reflecting recently on how being in Australia has shown me that I’m more Tanzanian in my parenting that I had thought. When I was in Tanzania, I thought I was quite Australian, so it’s been a discovery for me. If my parenting feels so foreign in Australia, what […]
We were at a community event when someone asked Elliot, ‘Where’s your mum?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know. Where is Mama?’ Sounds like a lost child, right? That’s what the person who found him thought, and fair enough. An announcement was made over the loudspeaker for me. When I heard […]
I often say to people that Elliot’s a bit of a dream as far as missionary kids go. He’s gregarious and confident. He’s in what is pretty much a foreign country to him (i.e. Australia) but he tackles each new situation with enthusiasm, and each different group of people with […]
Meet Jesus at uni 