Q: The scenery looked amazing in the West Papua mountain range where the Mek live. What was the most magnificent sight you saw there?

Olly: Merengmen, our village was on a prime piece of real estate on the spine of a steep mountain – it was inspiring to witness every dawn as the mist rolled out of the valleys beneath and the elemental force of the surrounding hills and life-giving jungles somehow seemed to renew my spirit for another day.

The most humbling sight was witnessing how Eonos reacted to his sacred cave. Believing in the power of his God to wreak furious anger, it was an incredible risk for Eonos, nothing more dangerous in his world, than taking me to his sacred place. It was the most profound and humbling privilege to be taken there, impossible to compare with anything in our world. To be able to see the world through someone else's eyes, is only the beginning of cultural understanding, but in that moment, that was part of a gift he gave me.

Perhaps it was the power of seeing a man, a friend who believed he was in the presence of his God, the way he shook and shielded his eyes and fled in fear, but something happened there that I’ll never truly understand – but the cave that was in front of me, the heaving canopy and breathing forest seemed to connect for a moment in the power of that place.

Although having said that though, there was nothing was more magnificent that seeing the eyes and smiles of little Sential – an enlightened being if ever there was one on our ickle planet – he shone light into my life every day.

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