Is GDQ connected with a church or denomination?
GDQ was founded to support the Evangelical Protestant missionary community in and around Tirana. We are not connected to a specific church or denomination.
What is the size of your school?
Around 60 families,100 students and 50 (full- and part-time) staff make up the GDQ family.
What countries / nationalities are represented at GDQ?
Presently, our families and staff come from four continents: North America (Canada and the US); South America (Brazil, Argentina, Chile); Europe (Albania, Croatia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and the UK,); and Asia (South Korea and Hong Kong).
Where are your teachers from?
Our teaching staff are predominantly from the UK and the US. We also have (or have had) teachers from Albania, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and South Korea.
What is the mix of missionary and non missionary families?
About 75% of our families are in Albania with a ministry organization. The other 25% are engaged in the business sector.What ministry organizations are represented by the families and staff at GDQ?
Presently, our missionary families and staff represent more than fifteen ministry organizations. Some of these are Assemblies of God, BMS World Mission, CAM International, Campus Crusade for Christ International, Christar, Church of the Nazarenes, Global Missionary Fellowship, Operation Mobilization, TeachBeyond, Youth with a Mission, WEC International, and World Vision.
Tell me about the students at your school.
Our student body is a mix of missionary and non missionary children. They come from different cultural backgrounds, and their parents have come to live in Albania for various reasons. Some of our missionary children have grown up in Albania; others have been in Albania for only a year or two, their parents having recently decided to pursue full time ministry in a country other than their own. Some of our non missionary students may be in Albania for two years only, depending on the nature of their father’s work. They may have moved to Albania from a country other than their parents' birth home and may move again to yet another country distinct from their parents' background. Some of our students have parents with differing cultural backgrounds – born in different countries, even on different continents. We are an English speaking school, but for many of our students English is not the primary language spoken at home. Some of our students speak and understand to some level three or four languages.
What resources are available to better understand the lives of children (missionary and non missionary) who attend international schools?
The following links may help broaden your understanding of third culture kids (TCKs). Please note that our inclusion of these links does not indicate our total agreement / support of each link's philosophy or the content of individual comments posted to each link. They are simply TCK links that you may find helpful.
http://michelephoenix.com/mk-tck-resources/
http://libbystephens.com/third-culture-kids
http://www.mknet.org/resources/webpages.htm
