Separation and Sorrow: The Painful Experiences of Dutch Missionaries’ Children

Abstract It was the norm, until 1965, for Dutch Protestant missionaries stationed abroad to send their children for secondary education to the Netherlands. This article analyses how these children were affected by this early separation from their parents. Using relevant historical, comparative and theoretical research, it reviews the practice, including its rationale, the nature of the residential spaces and resistance over time. In-depth interviews with mission children and others in the twentieth century, as well as the author’s reflections as a mission child, were evaluated using quantitative, qualitative and self-reflexive methods. They show that many mission children were traumatized by this early separation from their parents, suffering from short and long-term emotional stress and depression, feeling insecure, alienated and unwanted, with difficulties in personal relationships. Some gave up their faith. Intercultural interactions were relatively easy. The paper argues that, while mission work is important, it is Biblically unacceptable when it damages children.