The Greatest Christmas Gift

It’s a question we’ve probably all been asked at one point or another.  “What is the greatest Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten?”  There are two different ways you can answer: 1) Go with the coolest or most unique gift or 2) Go with the most memorable gift that ultimately has some kind of amazing story behind it.  Up until now, I wasn’t really quite sure what my answer was.  I’ve enjoyed many gifts over the years that are great and memorable to me in different ways.  But this year, I think I finally have my answer.

What is the greatest Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten?  A pair of socks.  Now, let me tell you why…

It’s been termed as “The Den of AIDS” or “Kenya’s Wild West”, but no matter the name you know it by, Salgaa is a place that people are no longer able to turn their eyes away from.  While during the day it may look just like any other small Kenyan town, by night it’s a restless place for many of its residents.  The main trade that takes place in Salgaa is in flesh – commercial sex work as it’s so often called.  It’s a truck stop town and one of the biggest ones along Kenya’s main highway leading from Nairobi to Mombasa.  Truckers would often stop over for a night before continuing their long journey cross country.  As truckers came, so did the women…realizing it was an opportunity for “easy money”.  Soon shops and other small businesses were brought to the area as well, and the next thing you know, we had a town called Salgaa.

Now that’s one side of Salgaa.  It’s a big part of what the place is and how it came about, and it’s the kind of info that most people talking about Salgaa are focusing on, but that’s not the only Salgaa I know.  Yes, the reality is, Salgaa is a dark place (yet you’ll find many of those all over the world, and not just in Kenya).  But there is light in Salgaa as well, and you’re probably not hearing those stories!

Every Wednesday morning, we load up in a car and make the 16 kilometer drive down to this sleepy little roadside town.  As we pull off the main road and onto the road leading into town, we’re soon greeted by the most beautiful smiling faces I’ve ever seen.  You see, every week we get to spend time with some of the most incredible women I’ve ever met!  Their struggles are real, the stories are incredible, their faces are forever engrained in my heart and mind.  And what makes these women so incredible is that they’re realizing more and more every day that their God is GREAT!  In fact, He’s GREATER THAN anything that is in the past, present or future.  There is darkness in Salgaa, it’s true, but there is incredible light there as well!  There are lives being transformed by the awesome power of a loving God!

And that’s what brings me to the greatest Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten.

It was going to be our last Wednesday in Salgaa for the year of 2011, and we were excited about taking some time to celebrate Christmas with the women.  After a great home visit with one of the women, we headed off to Bible Study/Support Group where we meet with any who decide to come…all are welcome.  It was a smaller group this week in light of Christmas and people traveling, but no matter the size, I always find myself encouraged by those who are there.

As I look around the room, I see 18 women.  Eighteen women whose lives God has changed.  Eighteen women who are struggling to make it one day at a time, yet are trusting in God to provide in the way that only He can.  These women don’t have much.  We consider it a miracle if any of them are able to save money beyond the current day.  Life is tough for them, and it’s impossible for us to truly understand their struggle.  I can see it and I can walk alongside them in it, but the weight of it is something I’ve never had to experience myself.  Yet you won’t find them sitting down sulking about it and the hardships they’re facing.  No, you’ll find them holding onto the hope they have in Christ and pushing forward making the most of the day they’ve been given…doing their best to simply get by.

After sharing with the women, taking some Christmas pictures together, and giving out a Christmas card and some lollipops to each one, we began to make our way back to the car.  As we approached, I felt a light tug on the back of my arm.

“Christine,” (that’s what I’m known as here) “wait…I have something for you.”

As I turned to see who was behind me, standing there was one of the women from the group holding something out to me in her hands.  With a shy smile on her face she said, “Merry Christmas,” and handed me a gift.  In my hands she placed pair of white socks.  Tears threatened to spill over as I nodded my head in thanks and gave her a hug.  Then we got in the car and headed out.

If you knew this woman’s struggle, if you understood her story, perhaps then you’d know why this is the greatest gift anyone has ever given me.  Her life has not been easy.  She is not proud of her past, even her recent past.  She’s not proud of the reasons that brought her to Salgaa.  She never wanted this life.  She certainly wasn’t looking for it, but it found her nonetheless.  Yet in the nearly 8 months that I’ve known her, I have seen a radical change in her.  She is not the same person she once was.  I still remember the first time we visited her home.  As I sat next to her on her bed, she shared with us the darkness of her struggle, the side of the story that no one wants to share.  I saw her desperation.  I saw her desire for a better life.  I heard her share that her dream was to someday live in a normal home with her family and have a normal job.  That’s her dream.

Each day these women struggle to get by, to make enough to live on: for rent, for school for their kids, for food.  So you can imagine how completely humbled I am by the fact that this woman gave me a Christmas gift.  I am humbled to know and be among such incredible women.  People may visit and say we’re making an impact, but the reality is they’re the ones who are changing our lives!

This Christmas may have been one spent without my family at home in the comfort of all that I’m used to…but this Christmas is one that I will never forget.  This was the Christmas that I received the greatest gift I’ve ever gotten!