Christmas Day

There’s a verse in Hebrews that reads, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” I often think about this text. Recently I wrote it again in my own words in order to allow it to “speak” to me afresh-

“Let’s scheme together often, coming up with inventive ways to entice each other towards good deeds, motivated by extravagant love.”

Christmas day 2007 was a great opportunity to scheme with a couple of friends in order to recognize a group of people who are often unnoticed in Phnom Penh. We targeted the street sweepers. We included the public gardeners. These are groups who work in difficult and sometimes dangerous conditions. They protect themselves from the heat and dust by wearing long-sleeved coats, broad-rimmed hats and cotton face masks. (But they don’t have anything to protect them from trucks, cars or cyclos!)

According to the older guy I chatted with their 40 hours per week of labour is rewarded with a meager $25 per month pay packet. I don’t really stop to thank them when I’m running early in the morning or dodging traffic on my moto. Time to scheme for good. We’re used to planning parties at Christmas. We are used to shopping for gifts. Time to come up with inventive ways to good deeds, motivated by love.

Our plan started with buying 42 envelopes and changing some money so we could put a 5000 riel note (=US$1.25) inside each one. (Not much of a gift in Australia but in Cambodia this is about a days wage…) Gretchen has been in Cambodia just a few months but she learned to write Thank You in Khmer and copied the word on the front of each envelope. On the back I hand wrote a short Christmas message and blessing. Mary went to one of the local supermarkets and brought back two slabs of Coke. We chilled them in the fridge overnight and bought ice to pack into a small ice-box the following day.

Early in the afternoon of December 25 we set off to distribute the gifts. We scanned the busy streets for green uniforms. We looked for garbage bins and brooms. We stopped the sweepers as they were pulling their handcarts. We drove up onto the footpath and chased people down!

I started by telling people it was a special day. Then I asked if they knew what day it was? The most common reply was: “Er… Tuesday?” … so I changed my approach. We spoke about our tradition of gift-giving at Christmas. I said that while Bon Noel isn’t a Khmer public holiday, it is a religious holiday celebrated throughout the world. I explained that Gretchen and I really love to run along the streets in the morning and that we wanted find a small way to express our thanks.

Some thanked us and blessed us in return. Others seemed relieved when we left. One guy who knew about Christmas listed his struggles and complained, “Jesus hasn’t done a thing for me!” There were different responses, but it was so much fun to plan something crazy and go out giving on Christmas day. Let’s scheme together often…