Living with the Mek Tribe

So I almost never watch TV unless it has to do with Spongebob, Reading Rainbow, Fireman Sam or the news, sometimes David Letterman and Conan when I'm up late. We occasionally watch Dr. Phil, I know I know, or Lockup, Crime 360, or that silliness they have on MTV just for kicks. Anyway, I happened to be watching the Travel Channel over the weekend and got sucked into this program called "Living with the Mek". These 2 British guys, Mark and Ollie, travel the world exploring other cultures and living with different tribes. So, all these people are really very small, I wouldn’t classify them as pygmies but pretty close, or Mark and Ollie are just really tall guys. The Mek tribe consists of a lot of interesting characters. It’s neat to see how they go from being pissed that these men are coming and invading their whole world, to seeing how they are able to understand what they are doing and allowing them to really become part of their family. They are completely naked, I think the women wear a little eeny beeny piece of cloth to cover their hoohoo, and the men, after initiation wear a penis gourd that’s really long and sticks into the air with a little g-string behind it, they live on the top of the mountain in little grass huts, they hunt and fish for their food, the men sit around in their huts and talk about which women they find sexy and want for their wives, the women do all sorts of cool things and even though the men lead the tribe, you find, as in most cases, behind every great man is a great woman making sure he succeeds. It’s just so interesting to see that these people have absolutely nothing, in the way of material things, but that does not stop them from being happy with their lives, simple as we may see it, and proud of who they are and the position they see themselves in, in their tribe, in West Papua, in the world that they know. Just makes you think about other people in the world, not everyone lives like we do, so we should really be thankful for all we have.

P.S. The people in the Mek tribe pick things up with their toes, and so do I, on occasion, partly because I like to, but mostly because I am lazy and don’t want to bend down. Don was like, honey, are you secretly a monkey from the Mek tribe?? I had to laugh, can you imagine me living there???