Having grown up in Ecuador as an MK, and having studied abroad in college, Kimberly Spragg developed a passion to see God work among students when she served as the off-campus study coordinator at Taylor University. She moved to the CCCU, working her way up to Student Programs Director. In 2005, she took over the ASC program, and has since been pushing students to process their world, their art form and their individual roles as global citizens in the light of their Christianity.

 

Education:
Master of Arts, History, Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., 1997
Bachelor of Arts, History, Taylor University, Upland, Ind., 1995
Certificate in Biblical Studies, Capernwray Bible School, Carnforth, Lancashire, England, 1991

 

How long were you in Ecuador as an MK? How did it shape who you are today?

Born in Quito, Ecuador, I am a dual U.S. and Ecuadorian citizen. At the age of 2, my family went to the U.S., and we returned to Ecuador when I was 7.  I graduated from high school there in 1990. 

 

Ecuador is such an integral part of my life that in many ways I’m not exactly sure how it shaped me.  The American missionary high school I went to gave me my inherent mistrust of institutional Christianity while at the same time allowing me to see that God uses all kinds of people to do his work.  He often uses us in spite of our motivations, in spite of our manipulations, in spite of our sinfulness.

 

One of the ways my upbringing prepared me for working at the CCCU was that I grew up with missionary kids and Ecuadorian kids from all walks of life, Christian and non-Christian.  I was friends with the very affluent as well as those who were struggling to make ends meet.  They were from Korea, New Zealand, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, the U.S., Taiwan, Easter Island, Bonaire, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Singapore, China, etc. I went to school with students who were Nazarene, Southern Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic, Mennonite, Assemblies of God --you name it--I probably had a friend from every major denomination.  But as we saw it, we were just Christians.  It wasn’t until I spent more time in the U.S. that I even realized there were some large issues between denominations worldwide. 

 

Are there things about the U.S. or American culture which were particularly difficult to adjust to once you returned to the U.S. after being in Ecuador?

American consumerism.  I could not get over the amount of choices people had and how much money was spent on unnecessary things.  My little sister used to get physically sick when we walked into a U.S. shopping mall.  At first I was almost unable to even make simple choices at the grocery store.  In Ecuador we had a choice of two kinds of breakfast cereal.  In America, there was an entire isle dedicated to cereal.  It felt like consumer overload!  I still notice this every time I come back to the U.S. from Australia.  Australia is not a third world country, but every time I come to visit my parents it seems there is a new mall being built and it’s filled with stores that sell useless products. 

 

The American Church was (and still is) something I have a hard time adjusting to.  It seems that the faith journey in the U.S. is a journey toward self-actualization rather than a journey toward giving up of self.  I hear too many sermons and “Christian” conversations where Americans define their faith through internal good feelings and emotion.  There is very little connection between our faith and our attitude to the poor and marginalized of society. 

 

The most serious issues for me I didn’t really discover until I was in graduate school.  It was during that time when I was studying Latin American history that I began to really process my experience in Ecuador.  Since I was born in Ecuador and felt like a citizen, I’d considered myself similar to any other Ecuadorian except that my parents were American.  But through reading more Latin American and Ecuador literature I realized that my U.S. passport gave me privileges that the typical Ecuadorian citizen did not have.  It threw my entire experience on its head for a while until I was able to process and sort through and reorient my thinking.

 

As the off-campus study coordinator at Taylor, what did you enjoy most about paving the way for students to study off-campus?

Watching their perspectives on the world change.  Watching their hearts change.  I think fondly of one student who was uptight and demanding before he left for studies in Africa and I thought he might not make it through his upcoming semester.  However, when he came back there was something incredibly different about him.  There was a calm about him.  He’d seen something, experienced something that made the petty “stuff” of this world inconsequential.  It was that “something” that made me want to send more students abroad.  It’s different in every country, the experience is not the same.  But if they open up and allow the experience to shape them they come back changed for good.

 

 

What did you learn about study abroad experiences as the CCCU student programs director? 

I knew this somewhat at Taylor, but at the CCCU, I learned that not all study abroad programs are created equal.  I learned that those programs that demand the most of students are typically the most successful and the most rewarding and the most fun for the student.  All study abroad is valuable to some extent.  However, not all of it is life-changing.  I learned that I wanted to work for programs that seek to push and challenge students.  I wanted no part of any program which is basically tourism or exists to make sure the students have a good time. 

 

What motivated you to leave all things familiar and move to Australia as the program director for ASC?

I loved working for the CCCU, but I was longing to work directly with students again.  I love living in and experiencing a new country, but my primary motivation was so that I could work with students.  My work in D.C. was mostly administrative and the few times I did get to interact with students, it was only over the telephone.  I can truly say that it was the right move.  Working with students on a study abroad program is truly my dream job. 

 

What have you learned about yourself and about the human experience so far from your time in Australia? 

The most significant thing that I’ve learned about the human experience is our tendency to self-deception.  From 1900 to the 1970’s, Aboriginal children were taken from their families and taken from their home land (country) and placed in the care of the Australian government and on Christian missions hundreds of miles from their homes.   (These children are called the Stolen Generation). The kidnappers convinced themselves that they were working in the best interest of the children, when in fact they were actually seeking to remove these children from their culture and raise them as “white” house servants.  This attempt to “breed the black” out of the Aboriginal race was defended as a way to help the Aboriginal people “in spite of themselves.”  I’m sure that on one level the government workers and missionaries involved were doing what they thought was best, and yet they had to know that they were ultimately working in their own self interest. 

 

These stories of normal people participating in an evil system have me wondering how much I personally deceive myself.  I wonder what areas I tell myself that I’m doing something to “help” another person when really I’m trying to achieve my own agenda which will ultimately benefit me.  It’s been making me think quite a bit. 

 

Are there any stories from your time at ASC you’d like to share- either about students or guest lecturers, or any experiential learning moments?

One of the most exciting things that we focus on at ASC is the connection between land and culture both in White Australian culture and in Aboriginal culture.  Aboriginal people have a very strong connection to their land (country) and this is essential to who they are. 

 

During our bush trip for the Indigenous Cultures, History and Identity class, our professor, Oomera Edwards, discusses everything from practical aspects of traditional Aboriginal culture (bush foods, medicine, animal tracks, ochres, tools and implements) to totems and their relationship within the family kinship systems to spiritual connection to land and creation (country).  Each day she also takes the students on hikes where she spends time teaching them how to travel and to know the feel and use of different areas in country.  She teaches using both Aboriginal and western maps as guides.  It’s amazing to sit with her in quietness and sense the different vibrations (as Oomera would call them) from the country.  For example, an Aboriginal ceremonial site has a vastly different feel to a beach where waves roar upon the shore and an incredibly different feel to sitting in a cave on the ridge tops of the Great Dividing Range. 

 

This experience provides an excellent background for our trip to New Zealand where our Maori teacher (Kiri Hata) helps students learn about Maori culture through their unique and very different connection to their own country (with its five volcanoes) on the north island. 

Oomera is one of the Stolen Generation and she was taken from her mother and her birthplace at five months old.  Sadly, this story is the norm rather than the exception; Aboriginal children were taken from their families “for their own protection” up until the 1970’s.  It’s not until our ASC students begin to grasp the intense spiritual connection Aboriginal people have to their own country that students even realize that this was more than a misunderstanding; this practice was a terrible human rights violation.  After researching her own history and reuniting with her mother, Oomera founded a nationwide organization called Link-Up Stolen Generations which helps Aboriginal adults find and reunite with their families while providing counsel and emotional support.  I don’t think the students realize how lucky they are to have her as a professor.

Related Links
	Australia Studies Centre