Life as An M.K. (Missionary Kid)
Hi! I’m Jake Malcolm. I am thirteen years old and I am in 8th grade. I was born in Coos Bay, Oregon and I’ve been an MK since I was three! I like to play video games, build lego models and write comic books. I read a lot of books, but my favorite authors are JRR Tolkien and Brian Jacques. I am a “Star Wars” fanatic!
Hi! I’m Grace Malcolm. I am ten years old and I am in 5th grade. I was born in Coos Bay, Oregon, and I’ve been an MK since before I turned one. I LOVE cats, and I collect “Build a Bears” and outfits for them. I also like to read, and scrapbook with my Mom.
Ever wonder what it is like to be an MK? Jake and Grace, veteran MK’s answer some frequently-asked questions about their life as missionary kids. Choose a question from the list below and click on it to see their answers.
- Where do you go to school? What is your school like?
- What is it like to go to church?
- What kinds of things do you eat in Africa? What is the strangest thing you have eaten?
- What is the weather like there?
- Have you seen any wild animals?
- What language do the people in Togo speak?
- What things do you miss from America?
- What do you like to do for fun?
- What is your home like? Do you have to live in a mud hut or in a village?
- How many different places have you been to? How many different places have you lived?
- Do you have any pets?
- What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you as an MK?
- What is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to you as an MK?
- How does God use you as a missionary even though you’re an MK?
- What are some cultural differences between the U.S. and Togo?
Have a question of your own? Click here to send a question to Jake and Grace.
1. Where do you go to school? What is your school like?
Jake: Here in Togo, we go to school at the British School of Lomé. In the British system, I am not in 8th grade. I am in Year 9. In Ivory Coast, we went to an American school called International Christian Academy, which was also a private school
Grace: At the British School, we have class in English, but we also have to take French. The PE is different, because we don’t have a gym. We either go to a private club with a pool and tennis courts, or go onto the soccer field, which has no grass. Swimming is part of our PE, as well as tennis. We have kids from more than 30 countries at our school but there are a few other Americans. Our classes are very small. There are seven kids in my class.
2. What is it like to go to church?
Jake: Church services are very long. Everybody here is very enthusiastic about God, which is obvious in their praise and worship, and in the way they preach. The services are often in French and are translated into Ewe. Sometimes they are in English, but once again, their accent is very strong.
Grace: Some churches we have been to are very hot, because they meet under a tin roof with supports, but there are no walls. One church we really like has walls, and big fans that blow to keep you cool. And usually the services aren’t too long, because they have multiple ones.
3. What kinds of things do you eat in Africa? What is the strangest thing you have eaten?
Jake: At home, Mom usually tries to fix us American meals. But when we go to other African’s homes, we often have to eat African meals. The strangest thing I’ve ever eaten was agouti, which is like a big guinea pig.
Grace: Yes, at home Mom usually fixes things like PB & J, ham sandwiches, spaghetti. We have a store here where we can get some American things like Pringles, sometimes Oreos, and Kool-Aid. When we go to pastors’ houses, sometimes we eat different things. Once when my Dad went by himself to a church because we were sick, the pastor had fixed hamburgers and French fries, so we missed it! The strangest thing I’ve ever eaten is palm-heart casserole, made from palm tree. It was really salty.
4. What is the weather like there?
Jake: We have three seasons: hot, rainy, and dusty. In the rainy season (May-September) it rains often and very hard, but it is a little cooler. Usually the temperature is in the 80’s, but it is 100% humidity.
In the dry season, it is hotter. Sometimes it is as hot as 100 degrees. The dusty season is called Harmataan, and it is in December and January. The dust blows down from the Sahara desert and it looks foggy all the time, but it is really just dust in the air. Everybody sneezes and your eyes sting.
5. Have you seen any wild animals?
Grace: In Ivory Coast, and here in Togo, the biggest animal we’ve seen is just a dog. The big African game have all been hunted too much in this part of Africa. But this summer, we went to South Africa, and we went to a game park. We saw giraffe, elephants, zebra, antelopes, hippos, rhinos and lots more. We also went to a lion park, and I got to hold a 3-month old lion cub.
Jake: We haven’t seen many wild animals in Togo, but what we have seen are a lot of snakes and lizards. The snakes in our yard in Ivory Coast were poisonous. Dad even killed a green mamba. Fortunately, no one was bitten. There are little lizards everywhere, but one time our dog found a big lizard in our yard. It was a Nile monitor lizard, and it was about three feet long, but most of that was a really long tail. Our Dad has seen baboons while he was traveling in the bush.
6. What language do the people in Togo speak?
Grace: People in Togo learn to Ewe (Ay-vay) first. In this part of Togo, it is their tribal language. But they learn to speak French when they go to school. Nearly everyone speaks French, except the little kids. Many Africans speak three or four languages.
Jake: There are a few countries nearby that speak English instead of French. Because of this, some Togolese people speak a little English too. But their accent is so strong we have trouble understanding them.
7. What things do you miss from America?
Grace: I miss my friends and some of the American stores, like Build a Bear Workshop and Walmart. I miss my cousins, aunts and uncles and Grandmas and Grandpas. I have a new baby cousin that I won’t get to meet until he is almost four years old.
Jake: One thing that I really miss personally is that we can’t buy video games here, because even if we find them, they operate on a different system. I also miss my friends, my family, and my school in America. My Mom misses the seasons. She loves the fall and winter, but here, we only have three seasons: hot, rainy, and dusty.
8. What do you like to do for fun?
Grace: I like to go to the pool. Our school pool is close enough to walk and is open every day, all year. There is a bigger and better pool at a hotel. We go there sometimes and you can order lunch beside the pool. I also like to play video games. We have a Nintendo Gamecube and a Playstation 2 with us. I also like to do crafts and scrapbook with my Mom.
Jake: Mostly, I like to play video games or work on projects, such as comic books or card games that I make up. I also like to read and play legos.
9. What is your home like? Do you have to live in a mud hut or in a village?
Jake: Our home is pretty normal, considering where we live. We do not live in a hut, and Lomé is a city, not a village. Our home has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a family room, living room, kitchen, dining room. We have air conditioning, so when the power isn’t cut, the house doesn’t get too hot. The power is cut often, so we had to buy a generator so we weren’t constantly without power. The generator isn’t big enough to run all the air conditioners, so when the power is cut, we have to choose which rooms to keep cool.
Grace: Our house is in a nice neighborhood with gates and walls around every house. You have to go past a guard to get into the neighborhood, and each house has a guard too. So it is safe enough to walk to our friends’ houses, or to school, or the store. Our house is big and nice. It has all tile floors and we have running water, power, television (by satellite) and air conditioning.
10. How many different places have you been to? How many different places have you lived?
Jake: I have been to twelve different countries, and I think nineteen different states. When we itinerate to raise money to be missionaries, we have to do a lot of driving and visiting different churches in different states.
Grace: We have lived in Missouri, Oregon, Washington State, France, Ivory Coast and Togo.
Grace: We have a German shepherd puppy. His name is Scruffy. We also have a cat. We brought her from America. She is three years old. Her name is Pippi.
12. What is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you as an MK?
Grace: When we were in Ivory Coast, a war broke out and there was fighting up and down the street we lived on. We had to stay in our house without running water for a week. But we lived on a hill, so we still had a little trickle of water. When we were supposed to be evacuated, we were only allowed to bring one bag of things with us. But we packed eight suitcases anyway. And God did a miracle to get those things out of Ivory Coast.
Jake: When the soldiers came to evacuate us, we drove in a military convoy to the capitol city. We stayed at a boarding school and the next day, we flew to another country on a C-130 military cargo plane. From there, we went back to America. Later, after we had left, our house was robbed, our dog was killed, and all our things were stolen.
13. What is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to you as an MK?
Jake: I think it was coming home after being in Africa for so long, and having all kinds of conveniences that we didn’t have before. Also, I’ve traveled more in thirteen years than most people get to in their entire life.
Grace: When we were in Ivory Coast, there was nothing to spend birthday money on. So we saved all our money. When we got home to America, we went to Toys R Us and got to spend a lot of money all at once.
14. How does God use you as a missionary even though you’re an MK?
Jake: My sister and I have done a lot to help with our parents ministry. This summer, we built two Tabernacle churches and two new Sunday schools. I helped pour the foundations. My sister and I helped pass out tracts and animal balloons. We also did a clown skit during the crusade.
I spent a whole afternoon helping put the roof on one of the Tabernacles, making sure the drillers had screws when they needed them. While I was up there, I made up this poem:
For want of a screw, the panel was lost. For want of a panel, the roof was lost. For want of a roof, the church was lost. For want of a church, a soul was lost.
I think that every job, even little ones, like passing out screws, are important to God’s kingdom.
15. What are some cultural differences between the U.S. and Togo?
Grace: There are street vendors all over. They will come up to your car and tap on your windows. They are trying to sell you something. If you don’t want to buy anything, it is okay to ignore them. It is not rude. But they don’t always go away.
It is considered rude to give things or take things with your left hand. When you give an offering in church, you should always put the offering in with your right hand, even if the offering box is on your left side,
When someone comes to visit our parents at our house, everyone in the house must come out to say hello to the visitor. (People often come by without calling ahead.) Then my Mom offers them something like a coke or a small snack. Also, when greeting someone, you should ask them not only how they are, but how their family is and their children are.
|
|
|||||||
|
The Malcolms
Missionaries to the Children of West Africa