Jacobs captivates audience at Wayne State College

By Lynn Sievers/Wayne Herald

Daring not only to dream but to carry out his dreams, world traveler Dean Jacobs, a graduate of Wayne State College and native of Fremont, was on the WSC campus Thursday captivating his audience with tales of his latest adventure. His presentation, "From Sails to Rails," an exploration of the Nile Basin of Africa and the Trans Siberian railway of Asia, was sponsored by the WSC Explorers Club and the Wayne Herald.

On May 16, 2001, Jacobs made a life-changing decision to give up a successful business job and journey around the world.

"Before I left, I wrote my will and letters to Mom, Dad and Grandma because I didn¹t want any bags, physical or emotional," Jacobs said. "For two years, I traveled from Mt. Everest to the Dead Sea."

When he returned, he wrote his book, "Wondrous Journey - The World isWaiting for You," which captures his travel around the globe.

His last journey took him to 13 countries in 10 months and since his degree is in Biology, one place he made sure he stopped at was the Galapagos Islands, a biologist¹s paradise. While in Fremont, Jacobs was a photo journalist and his talent shows in the beautiful photographs he has taken along his global trek. While abroad, Jacobs also committed to a weekly column, which he emailed to newspapers, including the Wayne Herald. His website, www.travel4life.org reflects his journey.

"I had a dream to see the seven wonders of the world, which are sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, laughter and love," Jacobs said. Jacobs noted he traveled on a low budget of $10 to $15 a day, not only because he's not independently wealthy but also because he wanted to experience the ordinary, everyday people in the world.

"I've eaten horse, camel, scorpion on a stick and they all taste like chicken," Jacobs said. "I've broke bread, had tea and worshiped different Gods with people around the world. I've learned so much about others and myself; it's a magical dance being in new situations. I've learned that humanity is priceless, timeless and can't be bought.

On his first trip, he visited 28 countries, from Australia and Southeast Asia to the Middle East and Africa. He found kindness in the ordinary people along the way and that generosity is the golden rule. Traveling to Sudan from Israel, he was refused entrance into Sudan because the Sudanese don't recognize Israel. One stop he wanted to make was to Sudan as Nebraska has the largest Sudanese population in North America. He acquired a new passport and tried to get into Sudan again and was successful.

"I had heard of the hardship of the Sudanese and wanted to learn what they went through," Jacobs said. "I saw a refugee camp where people have lived there 15-20 years so it's not a camp anymore but home."

Jacobs added there is no running water in the homes and temperatures are around 115 degrees. The people go to the river for their water and to bathe."I watched them throw rocks in the water before they went near the water and found out a guy had been eaten by crocodiles the day before," Jacobs said.Water is scarce and for camps further from the river, water is a real issue.

Jacobs noted the UN has been loading planes and is starting to move people back to their homes, as there is less trouble as there was before.

"It's emotional moving people home," Jacobs said. "I stood in the runway watching a plane take off only to see it return and the wings wave back and forth as if to say goodbye and I knew then there was no where else I was supposed to be. There is a sense of peace when you are true to your ownheart."

Leaving the UN operations, Jacobs went to Ethiopia, where the Blue Nile begins. He wanted to see where the Blue Nile and the White Nile, in Uganda, converge.

"There is an interesting culture in Ethiopia," Jacobs said. "It datesback to the Queen of Sheba. There are castles in Ethiopia that were built by their king and a tall tower that is a carved stone. I remember watching Indiana Jones and was looking for the Lost Ark of the Covenant. I found a building where the ark is supposed to be. In the mountains of Ethiopia, I found churches carved in a solid stone. "Angels are said to have carved the churches, otherwise it would have taken 40,000 people to complete the job. There are 11 carved churches that are actively used. The native people take pilgrimages to the churches. One church is called St. George and is carved in the shape of a cross. There are secret passageways to enter the church."

In Uganda, Jacobs went river rafting, overturned and nearly drowned. He was caught in a whirlpool and luckily someone pulled him out. While in Uganda, he visited with gorilla researchers, sang the hoky poky to school children and experienced endless miles of beautiful tea fields, where all the tea is picked by hand.

From Uganda, Jacobs wanted to see mountain gorillas so he headed for the Congo. He found the border closed but wanted to continue so ended up leaving his passport at the border and moved on into a very unstable area. There is a lot of poverty there too. Several people were supposed to accompany him but only a guide and a couple of park rangers went with him. They traveled three hours to get to where the gorillas were.

"There are only about 700 mountain gorillas in the world and 400 of them were in that group," Jacobs said.

Jacobs headed to Rwanda. In 1994, there was a massacre there and 800,000 people were murdered, mostly with machetes. There are open graves with bodies preserved with lime to remind people of the atrocity so it never happens again.

Following the Nile, Jacobs set sail for Egypt and on shore stood by pyramids and the Sphinx, From Egypt, he headed to Russia, where he spent three weeks, traveling on the Transiberian railroad. He went on to Mongolia, where he spent a month and a half, traveling by horse or motorcycle and even attended a wedding.

"The sand dunes in the Gobi are interesting," Jacobs said. "It is a desert with snow, which is very unusual because you don't think of that. The temperature was very cold, minus 30 degrees."

From his travels, Jacobs found people are more alike than different and that dreams are not reserved for those with the most money but for those who carry them out.