By Michael V. Pollock, Executive Director of Interaction International
R
eturning to Vermont, USA, from Rift Valley Academy, Kenya, at age twelve, I thought I was used to releasing my past. By age eight I had lived on Long Island (New York), in suburban New Jersey, and in rural Vermont before moving to East Africa. But arriving back to a new town in Vermont, I discovered internal resistance. My Kenyan and international friends, the charcoal fires and flowering jacaranda trees, the red clay soil, the Kikuyu farms and churches had gotten deep under my skin. How could I give all that up? Honestly, there was not much choice except to accept it or not. I bonded with a few other TCKs in our high school of 1,200, but three friends don’t make a robust social life and we didn’t even have the TCK moniker to slap on ourselves yet. In the 1980s it was
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Among Worlds
challenging to stay in touch with my friends in Kenya, but I persevered, waiting a month or more between letters sent and received. Meanwhile, I tried to open my hands and heart to my new community. I found there is more to my Michael-ness than my missionary-kid experience: I played soccer and tennis and led those teams, enjoyed academics (except math and chemistry), and adventured into winter camping and long-distance biking. By letting go a bit of my “Kenya MK” identity, I was able to expand as a person. By the time I left home for Houghton College (alma mater of pandemic expert Dr. Deborah Birx) in 1986, my father’s name was becoming well known in the third-culture community. When he accepted a position at Houghton College directing Interaction International, I lost my Vermont “hometown,” and when my two brothers transferred to Houghton as well, I released my dream of anonymity and starting fresh.
