January 2020.
I have spent the last four days on the remote island of Siberut, 200km off western Sumatra, home to Indonesias last remaining indigenous tribe, The Mentawai.
Under the guidance of Mateus, local expert of birds, frogs, dragonflies, and dancing like a monkey, I spent time with his family and wider community, joining and observing their lives for this short period. It’s an experience that has wrenched my heart so much so I feel obliged to share some incoherent insights while they are still incoherently fresh..
We were eating Durian SEVERAL TIMES every day, loving it each time (them definitely them more than I). It grows all around the jungle for six months of the year and is an odd fruit with a very particular smell - I’v certainly had my fill for now but along side rice and a spinach like veggie, it formed our staple diet. Rambutan is a local Lychee like fruit and was our daily treat. How can they show so much enthusiasm and delight for Durian every day I wondered.
“Mateus, why don’t you eat the coconuts, there are trees all around here?”
“We give the coconut to the chickens sometimes”
“OK, but why don’t you eat them?”
“They are boring”
“OK”
A hunter gatherer life, money is not really required - Mateus’ father has built his new house himself, but when help was required it was rewarded with pigs and chickens. Money is only needed to indulge in treats such as biscuits and cigarettes.
Peoples names are given based on their ‘status’. They change throughout their lives.
As ‘AMAN’ means father and ‘BI’ means mother, the second part of your adult name come from your first Child’s name.
[Widowed, divorced, grandparents, your child has passed, all form other prifixes]
The parents we stayed with were called AMAN-NARU and BI-NARU.
Tenses are mixed. Future/past/present. First person/third.
In the beginning it was confusing but as I understood, statements often seemed more profound, and timeless.
I observed no negative emotions during my visit. The only occasion that comes to mind was the moment at 4am I wrench the banana leave spines from under my ant bitten back as I wrestled to sleep on the jungle floor - to which Amanaru and Binaru respond with laughs and tried to give me their blankets.
“it doesn’t matter” he said the next day as I tried to apologise.
He was laughing a being tired almost as if it was a new sensation.
It struck me that all life in their wooden house was deeply connected. Humans and animals ate the same food at the same times, then all napped in unison. They are fully in tune with one another and they surroundings. After napping Binaru was rolling around with her granddaughter, laughing and playing and from above I mistook her for another child - so full of energy and life.
So much respect quickly grew on my part for the man of the house Amannaru. As we trekked and then a rest by the river he would be gazing into canopy, gazing through you as he listened. It seemed that he existed externally with his surroundings.
That evening he surprised me by often coming over and embracing/cuddling me, repeating my name as he rested his forehead on mine. It was a blunt and pure show of affection and I quickly felt naked and inertly comfortable in the families presence. There was zero judgement and although this sounds normal, in that moment I realised how much bullshit surrounds us normally.
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Lastnight upon my return to the mainland - the sweet little costal town of Padang, I retreated to the sleepy beach. As the sun went down and evening calls rang out from the nearby mosque, I floated on the warm salty waves - a moment I had dreamed of during my tricky times on the jungle floor. Amannaru came to my mind again as I drifted down below the surface and I instantly began to cry. They were tears of wonder, of pure joy, of fright ate how beautiful life can be, of my simple but deeply meaningful connection with this man, and of life grabbing me and shaking my shoulders. It felt to me like a moment of rediscovery, that this experience pushed a reset button in me.
It dawned on me that the most difficult journeys are often the most rewarding. We must step outside of our comfort zones.
Thankyou Mateus for this incredible experience. How sweet is life!
(FYI crying not recommended underwater - you can only cry OUT)
