Simultaneously with BMGN – Low Countries Historical Review’s special edition on Child Separation (BMGN 135: 3-4), a short video has been published in which authors Geertje Mak and Maaike Derksen illustrate the key role which missionaries played in separating local children from their culture and family in New Guinea and Rwanda. From the perspective of her own research, Esther Captain from the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) reflects on the relevance of this special edition.