Monsoon Season — and the Love They Could See

June and July 2011 brought Philip's first full Ranong monsoon — daily rain, a sea with real waves at last, and grey-white mould growing on books, bags and clothes faster than he could clean it. None of it kept the team off the island. They went shrimp-catching with the Moken at every spring tide, ate rice and grilled seafood by hand on the kabangs, and were slowly shown the family's hideaway house on land — an intimacy not offered lightly. Fishing for honest feedback, Philip heard the Moken's early verdict: they did not yet understand why the foreigners were there, but "you love our children with the love of God," the children were allowed to truly be children, and parents felt safe leaving them with him. One mother insisted on calling him a god — a misplaced reverence he kept correcting, knowing it could only end in disappointment. Beneath it all ran the glow of the Penang Father-heart encounter and a worsening visa problem that he asked his supporters to carry in prayer.