Mentawai - The global financial crisis that rocked the world in 2008 made Rob Henry decide to leave his home and work. Rob himself is a surfer from Melbourne, Australia.

Rob then decided to leave his home to search for the meaning of life. He managed to find what he sought in Indonesia, after living with the Mentawai tribe for eight years.

Reported from Australia Post, Saturday (18/11/2017), Rob initially came to the archipelago to document life in Mentawai, after meeting with a young man there.

Rob said, "I met a young Mentawai boy named Andy, who has worked in the resort where I spent the year and he has a great relationship with his workplace and I think maybe what I see in his eyes is something I have never see all this time. "

Mentawai tribal people like Andy are believed to have lived in the Mentawai Islands for thousands of years.

"It was nice to see Andy, he tickled my curiosity, to know what was in his view," he added.

Upon acquaintance with the young man, Rob then visits his residence in a remote fishing village, and soon finds himself. He also noticed the fact that the locals do not speak English.

"I am interested in living in a village that has not been much touched and when I arrive I do not know much about local culture and languages, this village is so extraordinary, scary as well as challenging," he said.

That's what then makes Rob to stay and document life in Mentawai for eight years.

The Culture of the Elderly Age

During his stay in Mentawai, Rob learns local languages ​​and unites himself in the community. He also learned more about the traditional beliefs of the tribes there called Arat Sabulungan.

Rob explained, "The local people believe that everything in nature has a soul, and they believe that the dead will return and become one with nature."

Typical culture of Mentawai itself was threatened after Indonesian independence. The government at that time forced the people there to abandon their traditions and beliefs.

They also urge locals to embrace a recognized official religion.

Mentawai culture and traditions are increasingly eroded from time to time. Their new generation is currently also poor in their original culture and beliefs.

"The older generation of Mentawai are still living with the original culture, but not with the next generations.The tradition wants them to continue in the generations below," said Rob.

Rob hopes, through his documentary film entitled As Worlds Divide made for eight years, can highlight the lives of Mentawai people who slowly began to escape from the culture of origin.

Rob covered, "I learned a lot, I learned that happiness is simple, not material, it comes from within myself, and from relationships with family and friends I think for all the native culture that still exists today, that's what causing them to survive for tens of thousands of years. "