Nine Exam Papers, a Sports Day, and a Healing

March–April 2012 closed the Moken children's first Thai school year with a jolt: grade one ends in nine exam papers, and children who could not yet read had to sit all of them. Thai pragmatism softened the blow — quick finishers were told to help the Moken, and Philip was drafted in too — but every Moken child was held back to repeat grade one. Then came an inter-island sports meeting at Haad Say Dam, where a reluctant Khay Dam (the boy later known as Wud) turned out to be a natural drummer and was picked for the parade band. Four islands competed for three prizes and nobody lost: first, second, and a shared third, with everyone cheering for whoever was behind. Just before Philip flew to South Africa, a Moken man asked him to pray for an old woman tormented by spirits and shaking uncontrollably — all eleven school children in tow. She was healed on the spot, and one boy summed up the lesson on the walk back: now they knew God really exists, even though they cannot see Him. The month-long South African visit that followed was restful but raw — Philip returned unsettled by the anger, division and unnamed idols he now saw at home with a missionary's eyes.