About

My name is Jake Shimkus and I have a challenge. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been learning about all the problems that face our world today: wars, racism, climate change, inequality, poverty, the list goes on and on. Yet even as I’ve been inundated by media and reports and even dinnertime conversation telling me how bad the world is… I remain an optimist. This is my challenge, to myself and all who read this new addition to my travel logs; to find cause for optimism and a reason to have hope.

Two years ago I began the adventure of a lifetime, traveling Peru, Botswana, Kenya, and Europe, in search of answers to some of those unasked questions that plagued my mind in college. The more I saw, the more questions I had. The more I talked with people, the more perspectives I learned to see, and the more facets the world took on, the more beautifully ornate this world appeared. Troubled, yes, threatened, certainly, but beautiful.

So now, having graduated college, I return to the world, the place beyond the bubble, seeking not answers, but the questions that might move us forward as people. After all: life isn’t about knowing all the right answers, it’s about asking all the right questions.