Asking Tribal Elders Life's Big Questions

How do you handle your babies by the legs? This interview was hilarious. I was suddenly transformed more handsome. And at the end Mpisi asks me a few questions as well. Why do you make yourself very... Grab your paper and pencils because Mpisi from the Ndebele tribe is about to drop some knowledge. That's a problem. Hey, welcome to rural Zimbabwe. I'm near Zambia actually. And we're going to meet a man named Mpisi. He's a local medicine man. And also we've heard he's a character. We're going to ask him some questions. Mr. Mpisi, we're all the way out here in Zimbabwe in... What's the name of this village? Kompisi village. So I've got some questions. So I've got a YouTube page like on the internet with many followers. And I'm wondering if you could give any advice. What would you say? Try to acquire good skills of survival. Not depending on the outside world or on the civilized world which make them handicapped. Then they don't think. They come to the gadgets and forget the indigenous knowledge. What's wrong with the civilized world? They make you stupid. They control you. That knowledge doesn't work practically. Learn those skills to produce your own food. And learn good medicine which makes you healthy and young always. I like your attitude. If you don't listen, then I... If I'm on my gadgets too much, I get... Leave them so that you make some ways of survival. Mpisi, you are full of zest. It's full of fire. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? 79 years. You're 79 years old. What's the secret? How do you stay 79 and still stay... Good food. Organic food always help you. No problem. You grow your own food, right? Corn, soccer, millet, pumpkins, watermelons, peanuts and beans. That's what we produce. And we feed to those who live in cities. Yeah. Who can't work. What do you think of city food? A lot of chemicals. I don't like it. Yeah. You're anti-chemicals. I am a naturalist. Out here, there's no chemicals. No, no, no. I don't like people to use chemicals. We use natural food. Yeah. Which heals. Can I tell you? Yeah. This is produced by chemicals. It is. It's very true. You are putting chemicals in your body. When you say it, you don't care what happens. You're saying, I'm wearing a good shirt. Yeah. Without... That's a problem! That you are practicing witchcraft on your body, yourself, with your mind. So people don't think about that. Mphisi, but they tell me it's breathable and it's got air-wicking pockets and it's sweat-proof. What about this? I mean, that's just gazelle, right? That's just one gazelle skin. And this? This is a truck tire, right? From a rubber from a truck. Yeah, but this is chemicals. No, look, look. We know how to take this. That's why it's wearing off. First of all, we boil with salt. You boil this with salt? With salt! Why? To neutralize those chemicals in here. To get rid of the nasty chemicals. That's what we like. Okay. What are some other things you do to help the body, let's say? I eat a lot of herbs. Eat a lot of herbs? Herbs. I know, anti-aging herbs, whatever you need for bodies. That's my life. Remember, in our African region, we used nature. We depend on nature for food, for medicinal properties, for wild fruits. We can't survive without natural resources. We need them. That's why we are connected with nature. I think that's really important for humans, is to be in harmony with nature. We move to the cities. We distance ourselves. We get afraid of the dirt we walk on. All these different things. The weather, the animals. And then we become unhappy and we wonder why. But we're so disconnected from where we came from. That's the problem with humans. Problem with cities. Especially city people. They don't know happiness. Tell me more. There is a totality of insanity. There's no respect for each other. Yeah, you know, even if something's happening to you, they can't come and help you. How can a society live like that? If you live here, when you make noise, everyone rushes there to come and help. What do you think is the secret to happiness? How do you be happy in life? Come together with other people. Be together and enjoy. Don't know them. Those people take you to their homes. Even if they've got one coat, they slaughter us for that happiness to enjoy. That's their pride in us, in Africa. But in cities, one man for himself. You're saying community, being together. What do you think about the cities? Even when I'm dead, they should not take me to the mortuary. No, there is no peace. There is no love in the cities. Why do you think people are so unhappy, besides community? They've got a lot of stresses which are regenerative. They work too much. They want money, money, money. You know, they are very busy with their life. They don't rest even their bodies. They don't have a social life to interact with other people. That's the problem. So then what do you think about money? Is money important or not? Money is money. But human beings are taking advantage of money to destroy their lives. They overspend. Some, they go and drink, abuse their bodies, drinking a lot. You're killing yourself. Let that money help you. It's a tool of survival. You can even take that money and buy chickens. They'll make more chickens. Your eggs, everything from there. Don't waste it. Use it wisely by investing. Having cows, everything. It will help you rather than just a planter. Yeah. What is it like living with animals? Like you have your own animals, goats and donkeys and chickens, but also there's big animals on the outside. Just actually down the road, we saw elephants just in the forest. What's the relationship the tribe has with these wild animals? You cannot talk about wild animals without talking about people. Okay. Animals enjoy us. They love us. But you are doing a lot of problems to them. We're not socially friendly. People spoil them. What is the poison for animals is our food we eat. Cookies, crackers, chemicals. You are poisoning them. They change their behavior. Then you are saying they are the... But you are the cause of that. When you are moving into the city, it's an area where animals live. You are blocking their movement. You are disturbed with machines and so forth. They like to say, hey, move out. It's our homes. And then you are saying they are a problem. Then you make a lot of... No, let them survive their way of living. That's the problem with humans. Problem with cities. They don't care, which is wrong. Just leave them. They should live like they were living. Like that, they won't be a problem. That was a hell of an interview. And honestly, it just gets better. Mpisi and I walk around the village. He shows me his animals, his medicinal plants, and begins asking me all sorts of questions. So we sit down again to flip the interview around. This time, he'll be asking me the questions. But first, how you can travel with me. I have created something and I am stoked. More stoked than when we found that crocodile in the jungles of Congo. I got to trade it for a bed of the pygmy tribe. That was awesome. But this is equally as awesome. It's called Tribal Rights. It's a one-week adventure travel retreat that I made as the thing that I wish I had 15 years ago when I was lost and confused and stuck and didn't know how to start adventures. People always assume I lived this adventurous life my entire life. No. False. For most of my life, I was afraid to do this exact thing right now. Speak on camera as well as travel. Batch it terrified. I was a mouse. I was a scaredy cat. And now through travel and through some lessons I picked up along the way, I'm an Emmy award-winning adventure travel host living this crazy life that I can only dream of. But it's because I've picked up some things along the way. What I want to do is give it all back to you in one week in Mexico. If you're interested, look in the description of this video or the pinned comment to learn more. I cannot wait to see you in one of my favorite countries, Mexico, in the jungles, just like this. Back to the show. Boom. Now the questions are going to get hard. You've got some fur. I've got some flu. Do you have one? A hat like that one? No, I don't have one. Do you have any extras? Maybe you can trade. You can trade hats. I don't wear caps. This is a dusty cap. Too many chemicals. Ah, look how handsome he is. I have suddenly transformed more handsome. How do I look? Do I look good? Wonderful. MPCs, you're a very wise man, by the way. Oh, thank you for that. One thing I wanted to ask is, do you have any questions for me? The first thing, why do you make yourself very flowery? To be a flowery man, or is it for attraction or what? It's a really funny question. The interesting thing is, I don't even know if people understand why they get tattoos. Like for me, I think it's a mixture of a few things. This is 25 hours, 20 hours. This is 10 hours, right? Of pain all of the time. So I think for some people, we get these subconsciously, like in our brain, without knowing, to go through something tough. Painful. I think so. I think that human beings need challenge. They need pain. They need something. They need a bit of suffering to be able to become their full self. Yes. Maybe people have it too easy. Pain is two ways. It's good. Every young man, when they grow, they should feel pain. You could even use a big one like this. It should not pain. Now, culturally, when you look at pain, you can be angry that you can do something evil. But if you pass through pain, you stop there. Say, I've dealt with that. That's my effect, no pain. But pain, they can demoralize you to be what you are in the future. You start the pain. It's a matter of life. From where you are from to the next life, where you need to go through. You can need the pain so that you can, certain circumstances, you pass through them. If you have got pain. In our culture, even puppies, they handle them with legs like this. You handle your babies by the legs. Swing them as if like you are dropping them. They should learn how to differentiate a pain and fear. I think trust is something in there that's very important too, right? Because if you don't have trust, then the pain and fear is much bigger. But if you learn that, yeah, so sometimes controlled pain can be a good way to build strength. You learn how to control pain and fear. That's what is very essential in life. That's why I was asking you. If you have this painful, you know, you can stand wherever in life because the pains which happened in your body, they are more than good. So go through more pain, so you become more resilient, we say. More resilient. Wise words. Okay, what's the next question? The next question is... For me. Why come in enjoying the world, trying to document the world? Why do I try to document the world? A lot of things in this world are misunderstood. People say snakes are slimy. They're dangerous, right? These false ideas of how dangerous the world is. And I started traveling because when I was young, I realized that all that's not true. And the more I traveled, the more I learned that it was all fake. It's all lies told by people who don't know any better. And so now it's my passion, my mission to go to places, countries, meet people. So I love coming to places like this to learn myself, but also mostly teach by doing, by showing, by meeting how beautiful and safe and interesting the world is. And then once you understand the world's not as dangerous as you think it is, it allows you to be more free. The world needs to be more connected. That's the plan. The chicken has a question. Well, Mr. Mpisi, you've got a lot of people watching right now. Any anything to say to the world? Yes, we are, my friend. Wise words. Thank you very much. Mpisi from the Shona tribe here in Zimbabwe. Thank you. If you liked it, drop a comment below. The wisdom, the wisdom you've got, man, the world should know. Thank you.