Missionary Kid: Born in India, Bound for America

by Margaret H. Essebaggers Dopirak

Missionary Kid: Born in India, Bound for America

This story delves into the mind and heart of a little girl who lived in two different worlds - one, of her white-skinned privileged American missionary parents, and the other, of the brown-skinned Indian people in whose country they worked and into which she was born.

The missionary lifestyle and the work of her parents are described through the eyes of the author, who spent all but 3 years of her childhood in India.

Tropical illnesses, a treacherous ocean voyage, and long separations from her parents were some of the things which this daughter of missionaries survived.
Living in America for three years during WWII opened up yet another world for this young girl - a world filled with wonderment and excitement, a world where her relatives lived and the place where many happy memories were created. But once back in India, America became a distant memory, a place she would not return to until she was sixteen years old. For seven intervening years she was sent away to yet another world - boarding school. It was here that she explored more than just books . . .

Take a journey into all the different worlds of this extraordinary childhood!

Genres: Nonfiction

260 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2016

About the author

Margaret H. Essebaggers Dopirak is the daughter of missionaries and was brought up and schooled in India. She received her early education at Highclerc, a boarding school for children of missionaries, situated in Kodaikanal, South India. Subsequently, in the United States, she completed three years of nurses’ training at Illinois Masonic Hospital, Chicago, and attended Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, where she earned a BS in Nursing. She later received a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Connecticut School of Community Health, Farmington, CT.

Being born and raised in India, Margaret realized early on that her childhood experience of growing up in a foreign country was very different from that of her contemporaries in America. Over the years, she was frequently reminded, through the curiosity and interest of strangers and friends, as well as family, that she might, indeed, have a unique story to tell. So, after a rewarding 40 year career in the field of hospital infection control and epidemiology - and during which time she raised her three lively sons - she turned her attentions to writing this memoir. A first time author, Ms Dopirak aspires to continue writing about her life-experiences and her family history.

Having traveled the equivalent of one and a half times around the world by the time she was sixteen, Margaret’s appetite for seeing new sites and destinations continued throughout her life. During her retirement years, in particular, she has traveled extensively with her husband, Bill, who is also a seasoned traveler. (Bill spent 20 years in the Navy as a submariner, affording him the opportunity to visit Scotland, Spain, Italy, and Guam.) Together, Margaret and Bill especially enjoy taking road trips within the United States, and have driven Historic Route 66 twice, visited all 50 State Capitols, and toured more than 150 National Parks. Trips and or cruises to the Panama Canal, Costa Rica, Prince Edward Island and other Canadian destinations, Norway, and Europe have been among their international travel destinations.

Margaret is a grandmother to 12 grandchildren and a five-time great-grandmother. In keeping with writing her memoir, it is no surprise that she has an avid interest in genealogy, and has accumulated a wealth of family history which she hopes to pass on to her progeny and descendants.

Reviews

[Liz Delton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't normally read memoirs, but was recommended this book by a friend. I can't imagine growing up in such times and places as the author, so it was a fascinating read to explore! Ms. Essebaggers Dopirak was a missionary kid, spending the majority of her childhood in India. Also fascinating were the 'furlough' trips back to America, including a memorable part about crossing the ocean while the world was on the verge of war.
You really get a sense of the way the family functioned in such an environment. Most of the children attended boarding school, and, it's so wildly different from now. Nowadays, I couldn't imagine taking a 20 mile hike with classmates! And of course, friendship and romance were completely different social functions. But you really feel how the author felt growing up during these times.

[Margaret Dopirak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret died during her 4th bout with cancer on July 8th 2023 at the age of 86.
This book displays the events what formed her into the heroic fighter that she became.
Growing up in a foreign country, living thousands of miles from her parents, was the foundation that she built upon throughout her life.
Her narrative, along with personal photographs from time gone by brings you into a world beyond your imagination.
A disclaimer: I am her husband and I miss her, but she managed to leave the world with the story of her younger extraordinary live.
She lives on through her writing.

[Amie's Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating memoir of a childhood unlike any most of us could possibly imagine. It is a tale of a bygone era that is so engrossing it reads like fiction.

Born to white missionary parents during their first mission to India during the years when India was still ruled by the British Empire.

Margaret Essebaggers has written this memoir of her childhood with startling detail. No one remembers their early years with any degree of detail, but through family journals, photographs, and letters she wrote home from boarding school her parents saved, Margaret has been able to write an exquisite account of growing up in India in a time now largely forgotten.

I loved seeing the pictures and I do not think this book would be complete without them. Reading about her childhood as an MK or "Missionary Kid."

Because I was literally unable to put this memoir down, I rate it as 5 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

To see the full review along with pictures from the memoir, visit my blog at http://Amiesbookreviews.wordpress.com
Also, be sure to follow me on Instagram @Amiesbookreviews
or on Twitter @Amiesbookreview

[Philip Mceldowney]

This is what I wrote on Oct 15, 2019 on Margaret brother Ted's Facebook.

I just finished your sister's book, Missionary Kid: Born in India, Bound for America, which took me nostalgically from Chattisgarh across the war invested waters to the US and Michigan, then back to India for common experiences there in central India's plains, and up to boarding school at that other mish kids' school in South India - winter vacations, boarding school traumas and bad food, hikes, young romances, religious angsts; then a return to the States, adjustments as an outsider figuring how to blend in and use youth's experiences to move forward in a positive way. Quite a marvelous ride for me - though I was a 6 or 7 years younger India mish kid. Thanks to your sister for a marvelous book and poignant memories.

[Beth Caruso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Essebaggers Dopirak tells an interesting and candid personal story about her life growing up in a missionary family stationed in India. She also recounts the small part of her childhood that was spent in the USA while her family was on furlough during World War II. It was a fascinating account of a unique childhood that takes the reader to a point in India's history and her own that can never be replaced. From the perspective of a child, we see the aspirations, accomplishments, and struggles of her missionary family. She also recounts the boarding school experiences she had with other missionary children. In her memoir, Ms. Dopirak does not shy away from telling about both the more glowing and the less complimentary personality aspects of herself and of those around her. For this reason, it is honest and relatable even though her situation was not one of a typical American child in the 1940s and 1950s. She takes the reader on a journey to view her past experiences with Indian friendships, language, customs, disease, danger, travel, and amazing experiences all taken in stride and when warranted, appreciation. I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and meeting the author's loving and adventurous family through this book.