Rasch brings multicultural perspective to classroom with experiences in Africa

Navigating the steep slopes, vast fields and lush forests of West Africa in the back of a small truck with 20 other foster children is a highlight of Coppell High School Algebra II teacher Ivan Rasch’s childhood memories.

The son of a mission worker, Rasch was born in Nigeria and lived in a boarding house with a pair of house parents and 35 other children of various ages.

With only two adults to supervise in a small village, it was hard to keep up with the children, allowing for secret adventures, vivid memories and endless fun.

Wanting to keep in touch with his childhood roots, Rasch decided to serve those in need through his dedication to Christ similar to his father in West Africa.

“My kids were too young to know the difference and we were on an adventure that became their life,” Rasch said.

Dedicating his time for the sole purpose of serving others in Africa for 13 years through The Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, he had the opportunity to understand the culture of his host people and develop meaningful relationships on this spiritual journey.

“I miss the community and how close everyone was with each other,”  wife Jennifer Rasch said. “People would drop by whenever they wanted to see you and it was a very close knit,”

As part of his responsibilities, Rasch was a full time teacher in Ghana and Nigeria, teaching computer classes, hardware courses and a variety of math and sciences. He was also responsible for maintaining equipment and computer servers at the school as the network administrator.

Along with his responsibilities of preparing lesson plans, correcting papers and helping students refine their speaking and writing skills, Rasch was assigned to be the senior class and student council sponsor.

Over their 12 years at the school, the enrollment ranged from 300 to 350, serving students from Pre-K to 12th grade.

Many of Rasch’s co-workers were from other countries including Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, India, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Denmark along with a few local Nigerians.

“His devotion to teaching all his students was genuine, he would be at school early and ready to attend to the needs of any student,” junior Tanmai Singhania said. “I remember him telling us stories of his time in Africa and thinking that he was such an inspiring figure in my life.”

In 2002, the mission took an impulsive decision to evacuate teachers only from their organization due to two detonated car bomb-  one that was three miles and one five miles away from the Rasch’s home.

“The mission felt like the physical risk of being there was too high and did not want to be responsible for us,” Rasch said. “We didn’t feel like we were targets of those bombs at all, we [were] not who they were looking for but our mission did not accept that,”

Rasch’s mission was the only one which evacuated families while other missions permitted families to stay and make the decision for themselves.

When the Raschs suddenly had to leave in 2002, it was difficult for their friends in Nigeria to understand the situation. People outside of the mission jumped to conclusions that caused a misunderstanding.

“It just kept going round and round and they could not understand it because nobody else made the same decision,” Rasch said.

When Rasch moved to West Africa, his children were two and four years old. Returning to Texas, they were 13 and 17 years old and attended Denton High School to complete their education. The transition moving back was difficult due to the lack of time they had to evacuate.

“Nigeria was all they had known, they grew up there,” Mrs. Rasch said. “People would see their white faces and expected that they know how to be Americas and the cultural expectations but they didn’t.”

Transitioning from a private, religiously affiliated school with a small enrollment to public school with a 2,500 students was a culture shock.

Rasch’s brother lives in Denton and suffers from muscular dystrophy, a genetic disease that causes the degeneration of muscle mass, it was also necessary for Rasch to come back and take care of him.

“Coming back it was hard, first of all they only got two days to bring closure to their time there, they did not get the time that they needed to say goodbye to friends,” Rasch said.

Both his children, Heather and Timmy, are interested returning overseas but this time, with a different organization.

Although his mission concluded in 2002 when his family moved back to the United States, he continues to educate and inspire his students in Coppell through his stories of service and adventure.