Notice the surf art on the wall and DIY board racks. If this picture had audio you would be hearing Jack Johnson.
Our local ferry trip to the Mentawai islands at the turn of the century, was not the usual choice taken by surfers of that time. With malaria rampant through the islands, most surfers chose surf charter boats, then risk staying in any kind of local accommodation with the mosquitos.
Since the early 90’s, major surf industry brands and their team riders had been surfing, photographing, filming and ultimately reaping monetarily from the perfect waves that break on the shores of the Mentawai islands. Whilst they did, behind the golden sand, palm lined beaches, the indigenous Mentawai were engaged in a life and death struggle against a killer, unknown to them, and the odds were stacked against them.
In some areas, malaria accounted for the deaths of 50% of children before the age of 5. Those that survived, often suffered from brain damage. Malnutrition and living standards were also inadequate. All of which were preventable.
The “Jungle is Looking Back” was Steve Bortolli’s journalistic look into the struggle of the Mentawai people beyond the charter boats, cameras, surfing and palm (play) fringed beaches. Inspired by SurfAid founder Dr Dave Jenkins, together they stirred members of the surf industry to action. Establishing what could be considered one of the most significant milestones in the development of surfings global social conscience.
Our choice to stay on land was not just about finances. We wanted to see if there were any indigenous surfers in the islands, and I know that for me I wanted to see the community development needs that I had read about.
Besides prepping ourselves for what we perceived would be a mosquito onslaught. I also met with representatives from community development organisations, to help me see the islands and its communities through the eyes of a community development worker.
Upon arriving in the islands after a very long, hot, overnight Indonesian ferry trip, we were greeted by a man, who turned out to be the father of a group of boys who surfed. I guess when you are the only white people on an Indonesian ferry, and are carrying surfboards, you don’t have to Einstein to work out why we were there!
He promptly took us to his home, where we were greeted by his boys and the sounds of Jack Johnson. A stark contrast to the local mosque’s calls to prayer just a stones throw away.
The boys showed us their boards, a small VCD clip of Kelly surfing one of their local breaks, and a trophy the youngest had won at their first ever locals surf contest back on the mainland. I guess we were in the right place!
We decided to run a small surf contest for what we learned was 13 eager hungry young groms. Which I had the opportunity to video in part and play back to them in their home.
The video playback was quite a scene. 13 teenagers crowded into a small lounge room, each cheering, laughing an egging each other on. Without knowing the differences in language, affluence, culture, world view etc that these groms were just like the groms at home.
It wasn’t until I got home and debriefed with one of my community development advisors that I learned that long term sustainable community development needs trust and community ownership to work.
It was then I realised, that despite the obvious differences between ourselves and the Mentawai surfers in so many areas of life, surfing was a language that we all understood and were able to connect, relate and build trust through.
Eyes were glued, whilst they shared comments, laughs and the odd joke over each other over wipeouts and good rides. An image of the lounge room premiere of this unedited video can be seen in the photo gallery above.