The Woman Who Tried to Have Him Removed

An American woman on the island, whom Philip names Erika, had set herself to have him removed. She was behind the charge — disproven that April — that he forces the Moken to become Christians; the year before, she had reported him for interfering with the children, a claim investigated by the immigration police and found false. Now she accused him and a co-helper of stealing the Moken's money, taking the complaint to immigration, welfare, the labour department, the tourist police, and the provincial government.

Philip was summoned before a large panel, and two of his foster sons, Wud and Tine, questioned as well. Because he already works alongside these very departments in helping the Moken register births, gain citizenship, and reach hospital, they examined his papers, found everything lawful and in order, and said plainly that they work well with him. A co-helper whose own papers had lapsed was asked to leave the school. Erika told the Moken she would not stop until he was gone, and reportedly carried the matter to the US Embassy — yet every local department found no truth in the rumours. "All we can do," Philip wrote, "is pray for her, and know that our God and King is greater than all of it."

Through it all, ordinary mercy continued. A young man named PaGao, in kidney failure and needing dialysis twice a week, collapsed one morning unable to breathe; Philip and the man's brother rushed him by boat to hospital, and within three days he was back on the island. And a wider volunteer network in Ranong invited Philip in, its officials astonished that a foreigner could joke with them in fluent Thai — the head of the local government saying that with his eyes closed he'd never know he was speaking to an outsider. The Moken, for their part, paid the harassment little mind: Sunday gatherings were fuller than ever.