PAUL SALOPEK:

So, I have walked about 6,000 kilometers out of Ethiopia since January of 2013. I have crossed about 13 borders. I have passed through about a dozen countries and territories, many languages within those territories and countries.

And along most of the way, about 95 percent of the way, I have been walking with local people. That's part of the project. This is a project about humanity. It's a project about what connects us and what separates us, so I need to have local people.

And it's truly amazing. In conversations about, is the world becoming more dangerous, is it becoming more turbulent, I have to remind my readers that, at least in my experience, the world is an incredibly hospitable place.

And all of these folks who walk with me, mostly men, but some women, have become like family to me. I literally put my life into their hands. And I'm being passed like a human baton from walking partner to walking partner.

And what does that do? It gives me great heart. It gives me great energy. It proves in a very concrete way, my safety, that most people are good and most people will help you out, even if they're strangers, even if they're from another culture, even if they don't look like you or speak in the same words that you speak.