Put Your Passport To Good Use

Hello readers, friends, and wayfarers. Notice anything new or different about the blog? Here's a hint...look to your right. See that widget--that long, tall, sally of a thing under the words Passports With Purpose? That's what's new here! So what's this widget doing on my blog?

First things first. Passports With Purpose is an annual fundraiser held by dozens of travel bloggers that aims to give back to the places that travelers visit. Since 2008, Passports With Purpose (PwP) has been recruiting bloggers and travel sponsors to raise money for a different charity each year. In its first year, PwP raised $7400 for Heifer International, a worldwide non-profit devoted to ending hunger and poverty and promoting self-reliance and sustainability. To give you an idea of how successful PwP's mission has become, in 2011, only its 4th year of fundraising, PwP raised $90,000 to build two libraries in Zambia in partnership with Room To Read.

This year Passports With Purpose has upped its goal to $100,000 for Water.org, an organization working to make clean and safe water available to all countries and populations around the world. The money raised for Water.org will go specifically for building much-needed wells in two communities in Haiti.

Chances are if you're reading this, you come from a country or part of the world where you don't have to worry much about water--like where it comes from, if there's enough to go around in your community, if it's safe to drink. If so, consider yourself very fortunate. Here are some facts about water in the world according to Water.org, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF:

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to safe water. Two and a half billion lack access to improved sanitation. Picture this--more people have a mobile phone than a toilet. And every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related illness, mostly children in developing countries.

In Haiti only one in five people have access to a toilet, and half the country lacks access to clean and safe water. Haiti's water crisis goes back to before the catastrophic earthquake that hit the country in January 2010. The earthquake only worsened the situation. Meanwhile Hurricane Sandy has re-devastated the country.

Now, Passports With Purpose is teaming up with Water.org to lend Haiti a helping hand. Passports With Purpose is already set up to accept donations that will go to Water.org. On November 28th it gets even better--PwP will begin offering the chance to win some great travel-related prizes to anyone donating as little as $10. Ten dollars, people. For ten dollars, not only can you help out people in Haiti, you might win yourself some cool travel gear or a vacation getaway in 2013. There's no reason not to participate.

So why am I telling you this? Well, I can't give it all away right now. All I can say is look out for another post from me on November 28th. I'll give you all the details on what you can win and what prize in particular this ol' blog will be sponsoring. That's right--Writing and Wayfaring will be hosting a prize. In just a couple weeks, I'll tell you all about it. So stay tuned...and in the meantime, click on the PwP widget if you want to find out more about the fundraiser!