In today’s post I walked through a National Geographic website called “Out of Eden” where you can explore past migration of people from several centuries into the past. I explored Chapter 4. Silk Road in this website and it was phenomenally detailed and rich with information. Chapter 4 is a series of stories and experiences from all over the world by journalist Paul Salopek. Throughout his journey he came across luxurious goods such as gold, spices and precious silk in the villages of Pakistan. Not only did he find goods, he found himself learning about the effects of globalization and the history behind it.

This walk virtual walk – through exhibits the beautiful parts of Asia and the Middle East the world may not have seen before. However, Paul also reveals some areas that have been ravaged and destroyed from previous chaos and war. Paul experienced tremendous hardship in Central Asia when his water supply of 15 gallons of stolen. “But never before have I encountered this: Someone has dug up and looted my resupply cache. A shallow pit that once held 15 precious gallons of water. My water. I cannot tear my eyes from the emptied jugs”

In Chapter 2, Holy Lands the same journalist from chapter 4 walks through several countries that had land that had been fought over for centuries from monotheistic faiths. For example, Jerusalem was considered the Holy City by Christians and Muslims. Knights Templar, Kings and high popes of the Vatican fought over the land of their lord and savior Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

While speaking to a Palestinian, Paul leaned the effects the children’s crusade had on Europe and Asia. Paul met Khaled Daraghmeh of Palestine who recovered from a broken arm as of the interview due to tensions with rude settlers. Khaled discussed the hardening of his son along with today’s youth. “The young people on both sides are hardened more than us older guys. I’m as conservative as it gets. But my kids are even more hardcore than I am. They’ve had enough of it, and they talk about not holding back anything in our response to terrorists. They don’t have memories.” The tension between extremists and peaceful locals of the Middle East has scarred the lives of youngsters across the world especially in third world countries. Paul noted the cause and affects events such as the children’s crusade can have generations after it happened. He related what Khaled said about the hardening of his son’s generation to the children’s crusade.

“About the next generation’s hardening. And I think of the story of the Children’s Crusade: How, 800 years ago, Europe’s pious shipped armies of street kids to the Promised Land to convert and conquer it through innocence. And how merchants had sold boatloads of the children, instead, into slavery.”

I cannot upload anymore images because this website says that it cannot upload any more screenshots due to to total file size of my post.

Finally, the final chapter I viewed was Chapter 5, The Riverlands. This journey is mainly about Paul’s journey into India and Pakistan. In this lovely and wholesome article Paul meets Syrian refugees in Jordan who survived a civil war from the army of Assad by only eating tomatoes in tents close by the Jordan River valley. They did not have access to meat… “here, we only dream of eating chicken”. Paul mentioned that they did not have much to give but they still gave what ever they could to make their guests feel comfortable .. and that was with food. “My walking partner, a tough Bedouin named Hamoudi Enwaje’ al Bedul, gave the tent dwellers our food. We walked away, stunned to silence for miles by the Syrians’ generosity. I have rarely felt richer in my life than those nights.” This was the most wholesome article I have ever seen on the internet. Things like this should be on the news more often instead of broadcasting the lives of out of touch celebrities.