The Children's Tuck-Shop

The year opened with birthdays. Most Moken children don't know the day they were born, so 1 January is recorded by default — which is why Philip gathers all his foster sons' birthdays and celebrates them together each new year, and again in April: cake in Ranong, and for each boy a new shirt and trousers to be proud of. "There are few things as good," he wrote, "as seeing the excitement and anticipation on the children's faces." Mid-month he travelled to Phuket to see a fellow South African missionary friend, based in India, who had shaped many of his own mission decisions; they spoke Afrikaans, shared their hearts, and prayed together for a single unforgettable afternoon.

The month's small milestone was the tuck-shop. Philip had been quietly planting the idea since the home-schooling began, only to have the children dismiss it as a joke — until they came to him convinced it was their own bright idea. Wud and Tine pooled their savings, bought a load of sweets in Ranong, and opened for business. A month later it hadn't gone bankrupt, and Philip watched it hopefully: "it comes with life lessons."

Alongside it, the rhythm of gathering was deepening. On Tuesday evenings the men and older boys came to share Bible stories; the girls met at Ieang's; Thursdays everyone gathered at Philip's, and every second Sunday in the little hall. More adults were beginning to take an interest — evidence, in seasons when it can feel like nothing is happening, that the Father is genuinely at work among the Moken.