"A Third Culture Kid" by Leah Kelly

Posted by Leah Kelly in English 2 - Pahomov on

Returning to your home country can be hard after living your entire life time overseas, especially when you don't think that you belong in either country. Listen to my mom, Shareen Kelly, talk about her life growing up in boarding school and coming to America for college from Africa. Also, listen to her reflection on being what society calls a "third culture kid".
interview
In my mom's case, she has been crossing a boundary her whole life, which leads her to having felt like an outsider. When she was in Africa, she felt left out and misunderstood because she was white and that was not her native country. However, when she came to America for college, she felt like a foreigner as well because she was used to the Nigerian culture that she had grown up around. In her opinion, this was the reason behind some of her really deep friendships with other missionary kids-- they knew what she had experienced and they had experienced the same thing. Also, growing up without her parents made her value the little things that she could spend time doing with me and my brothers as we grew up.

The actual recording of this interview was easy-- my mom is a great conversationalist and gave me thorough answers, lots of backstory, and interesting tidbits that made the story feel more personal for me and I'm sure for the listeners. Also, she was not afraid to talk about how she really felt when she came to America, which is something that is very personal for her and something that I was glad that she was able to share so eloquently.

This was a really fun project to do. Not only did it help me get to know my mom better, but it also strengthened my interviewing and editing skills. Since I had to cut a lot out of the interview, it made me realize the details that are necessary to a story and helped  me figure out with ones could be cut away so that I am left with  just the raw story. Also, thankfully, I did not have many technical errors when using Garage Band, which was great.

Comments

No comments have been posted yet.