Who joins you on a global walk? Since leaving Africa in 2013, I’ve walked with shepherds & princes. Some walk along for an hour. Others, for months. In my heart, all walk with me still. Here are some of my walking family through the Middle East.

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘How many camels are you looking for?’
‘2.’
‘Is that all?’
‘Males.’
‘2 males. Anything else?’
‘Well, preferably castrated.’
‘Castrated. Of course.’
‘Thank you, Seema.
‘You’re welcome, Paul.’
—Seema Khan, Saudi Arabia

Story: https://bit.ly/32p3T7M 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘We are lucky guys! God is with us!’—Mohamad Banounah ( @BANOUNAH), in the faintingly-hot salt flats of the Hejaz, Saudi Arabia. He trekked 240 miles hiding an abdominal hernia. Doctors called his survival a miracle.

Story: https://bit.ly/2EsQgw7 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘It is very strange,’ he said mildly, clinically, as if he were talking of somebody else’s woes. ‘I cannot control my breathing.’—Ali Al Harbi (right), suffering heat stroke, in the #Hejaz desert of Saudi Arabia.

Story: https://bit.ly/34qZSSX 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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Go, go everywhere.
We walk the pilgrim roads.
We make the far distance close...
We are in the mood for good food.
Saeed, bring us barbequed fish.

—Improvised song by Awad Omran, master cameleer, Saudi Arabia.

Story: https://bit.ly/2QjcfIL 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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Hamoudi EnWaje’ al-Bedul, a Bedouin, gave the Syrian refugee the coat off his back. And our cheese.

‘It’s cheese,” he told her. She stared at it.

She raised it to her forehead. ‘Praise God,’ she said. #Jordan

Story: https://bit.ly/2Ytkvdk 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘You must carry my pack uphill. It’s in my Nat Geo contract.’

‘F@#* you.’

‘I deduct $100 every time you insult me, too. I have a good contract.’

‘F@#* you twice. Consider it a donation.’—Bassam Almohor. #Palestine

Story: https://bit.ly/2EurJHa 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘Just the facts aren’t enough. It has to be something more creative, personal. If you come here with heart on one side, it’s going to be impossible.’—Osnat Skoblinski, on building Israel-Palestine peace. #Jerusalem.

Story: https://bit.ly/3ja0Ebf 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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‘Let’s go walking somewhere. How about Nazareth? I know a good hummus shop there!’—Yuval Ben-Ami, who has walked all over #Israel, leading the way thru #Galilee grasslands that shined in the sun like polished bronze.

Story: https://bit.ly/3aQY2fr 

#EdenWalk #ItsTheirWalkToo

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