Haitians using water from the river. Photo from Water.org

Thinking About Water

Do these travel rituals sound familiar?

• Pack a water bottle and fill it at a fountain at the airport–or buy a couple of bottles of water at one of a dozen airport stores.

If you didn’t have access to running water in your house, how far would you have to walk to get to a water source? (Remember the little girl in Harmattan? She spent much of her day walking back and forth to the river for water.)

• Fill the bathtub at your hotel to hand-wash your clothes.

What would your day be like if you had to use 5 gallons of water or less? (I recall people visiting a desert area and complaining that the people’s clothes were dirty. Well, duh!)

• Call the hotel front desk because the toilet is making a strange noise.

What would you do if you didn’t have a toilet? (Disease can grow rampant with poor sanitation. One reason that it is taking Haiti so long to recuperate from a disastrous earthquake, two years ago in January.)

I borrowed the questions above from Passports With Purpose, whose founders this year are asking you to think about WATER. (I added notes of my own.)

What is Passports With Purpose? 

When I first heard about this effort back in 2008, I was not yet a blogger although I was a traveler. It immediately captured my heart. Do travelers care more? It certainly is true that travelers see the needs of less developed countries. Because we are privileged to travel, we want to help repay the universe. So I  join  with other bloggers each year and with members of the travel industry to raise funds for an international project.  Passports With Purpose is an annual fund raising event that has progressed from $7,000 for Heiffer International to last year’s funding of libraries in Zambia with $90,000. In between there were the school in Cambodia and the village in India.

Now in its fifth year, Passports With Purpose, organized by Debbie Dubrow (Delicious Baby), Beth Whitman (Wanderlust and Lipstick), Michelle Duffy (Wandermom) and Pam Mandel (NerdsEyeView), has been enormously successful partnering with local charities. This year long-time friend of A Traveler’s Library, Mara Gorman (Mother of all Trips) joined the group.

Who Is Passports With Purpose Helping This Year?

Water.org, founded by Matt Damon and Gary White will benefit this year.  Specifically,Passports with Purpose will support Water.org’s local Haiti Outreach, to build and rehabilitate wells in Boucan Carre and Mirebalais, serving more than 7,400 people with clean water, sanitary toilets and hygiene education. If we hit the goal of $100,000 (keep an eye on the thermometer widget on A Traveler’s Library home page), we will fund five wells.

How Can You Participate?

1.Go to Passports with Purpose web site. For each $10 in donation to Water.org, you will be entered to win a prize (or prizes) of your choice.  See the entire list of prizes at Passports With Purpose. (What’s on your “bucket” list?)

When you find a few great prizes on that list that you can’t live without, or that would make great gifts for someone you love–”you pays her money and you takes yer chance.”  For less than the price of a paperback book, you might be flying high, staying plush and dressing to kill.  Some prizes are worth way more than $1,000 and none is worth less than $100.  All proceeds to directly to Water.org. It’s a drop in the bucket for you, but a lifeline of healthy water for hundreds in Haiti.

2. Want to help spread the word? (Drip, drip, drip) The Passports with Purpose website had widgets ready to post on your web page/blog. And tweets, FB mentions, Google + discussions are always welcome.

3. ACT NOW! It will all be over December 11 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  We’ll announce the winners before Christmas. (Complete rules appear on Passports With Purpose) But of course EVERYONE is a winner when we provide relief for people who desperately need clean water.

What gifts is A Traveler’s Library hosting this year?

Of course you are free to select any gift you like, but since you read A Traveler’s Library, you’ll be among the first to know about these two great prizes. I’m giving you just the basics here. Come back tomorrow and Thursday for more information on each.

Hotel Monteleone Lobby, New Orleans

Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans, Louisiana

For the fourth year in a row, this gorgeous, family-owned hotel is offering a New Orleans vacation to one lucky contributor (and a companion) to water.org through Passports with Purpose. Let’s here it for the Hotel Monteleone’s lasting generosity! Wow FOUR YEARS of contribution!

Details: 3 days/2 night stay for two in deluxe accommodations. The certificate is valid Sunday through Thursday nights (excluding special events and blackout dates). INCLUDING one breakfast for two and one three-course dinner for two in the new Cirollo Restaurant in the Monteleone. (Total retail value $750)

Interlink Books

Interlink Publishing, Inc.

For the second year, one of my very favorite publishers is offering a whole library of books to one lucky person.  I love Interlink because they specialize in inter-cultural books. And somebody is going to get $300 worth of their beautiful publications.

Details: Winner (Continental U.S. only) will receive an e-mail gift certificate for books worth a total of $300.00  Winner may choose anything on the Interlink website to fill the order.

See the list of bloggers taking part in Passports with Purpose, 2012

The Big sponsors, contributors of $1000 up to $10,000, for a total (so far) of $25,500 in 2012, putting us 1/4 of the way to the goal of $100,000.

Expedia (Platinum)

TripIt (Gold)

TBEX (Silver)

HomeAway (Bronze)

Travellerspoint (Bronze)

HostelBookers (Bronze)

 Go with Oh (Bronze)

Now, please go bid on a prize or two and come back and tell us what you chose. I’ll raise a glass (of water) and toast you. Drink up!

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Original article: A Drop in the Bucket

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