While we can’t bring you all along in person, we hope to bring you along virtually. This is Africa, after all, so we’re doing it the “old school” way, with postcards and pictures.  We hope to gather hundreds of them to bind in a photo album and deliver to the school. It’s a great way to show the kids in Zambia how many people, from around the world, worked together to make their library a reality!  So, if you helped by making a cash donation, providing a prize, or spreading the word on your blog or social media we hope you’ll participate.

• Send us your postcard (or postcard sized pictures). It can be a postcard from your hometown, a trip that meant a lot to you, or a picture of you doing something you love. Don’t forget to write a note on the back!
• We’ll be posting some of our favorites online, so let us know if it’s not ok to share in that way – we promise to respect your wishes.
• Put your picture or postcard in the mail by May 1 – you can send it to: Passports with Purpose, P.O. Box 16102, Seattle WA 98116. Make sure you allow enough time for it to get to us before May 3rd.

We raised a grand total of $89,819.00 for Room to Read. That’s $9819 over our initial goal of 80k, and with matching gifts, the total is sure to grow more.

Construction of the two libraries in Zambia that we’ve funded is underway — we’ll post those on the Passports with Purpose blog and you can see for yourself where your money is going. We’re also talking to Room to Read about other projects which we could support using the $9819 overage: girl’s education in Zambia, filling an existing space with books, or more.

We emailed all prize winners on December 23rd. Congratulations if you were one of the lucky prize-winners — but even if you didn’t win this year, we greatly appreciate your generosity. We hope you’ll agree that the biggest winners this year were the thousands of kids in Africa who will now have access to books.

We’re proud to be working with such a committed group of bloggers and travel industry companies who provided such great prizes and we’ll be looking to have more of the same next year.

We hope you will stay in touch through 2012. An easy way to follow along with us is to “like” our Passports with Purpose Facebook Page

Again, a heartfelt “Thanks!” from everyone on the Passports with Purpose organizing crew. We hope you’ll join us next year.

Yours,

Beth, Debbie, Meg, Michelle and Pam

Thank you — our grand total at midnight on Friday, December 16 was 89159.00.

Best act quick, though, Passports with Purpose closes this Friday, Dec 16 at Midnight PST

Here’s your best odds list. You know what to do, right? Links take you to the detailed post on the prize, come back here to give. And maybe, just maybe, get.

• Pit Stops for Kids: Two Adult One Day Go Cards from Smart Destinations. Choose from one of 14 US Cities.
• Travels with Two: Shuttle Bus Weekender Bag.
• The Carey Adventures: $150 in rentals from BorrowLenses.com (a Nerd’s Eye View pick!)
• A Traveler’s Library: $100 gift certificate for audio books from MacMillan Audio. You’ve not experienced how awesome audio books are until you’ve been on a long, rough ocean crossing. I tell you what.
• Roaming Tales: Cooking class at Freestyle Escape in Queensland, Australia.
• Roadtrips for Families: Buckeye state (that’s Ohio, kids) getaway. Two nights at a state park lodge plus goodies.
• Sheila’s Guide: Voltij travel pack, great for backpackers.
• The Gastrognome: $500 towards a Willing Foot tour, good through the end of 2012.
• Travel with Teens and Tweens: Monkey Trunks Extreme zip-lining and ropes adventure in Chocorua, NH; Weirs Beach, NH or Saco, Maine.
• PNW Journeys: One night at the Hotel Andra in Seattle. (Come visit the PwP crew!)
• A Dangerous Business: The Nevis Experience: Bungee and swing in New Zealand (You go ahead. I’ll wait at the bar.)
• Trekaroo: Overnight and a round of golf at the Barton Creek Resort and Spa in Austin, Texas.
• Mo Travels: Stylish carry-all for your laptop and “stuff”, made to slide over your rolling bag handle. You know the drill.
• Travelblogs: $100 voucher for accommodation through Traveller’s Point (a PwP sponsor!)
• Ireland with Kids: Two nights at any B&B on the B&B Ireland website. The Irish? Insanely charming, in my experience.
• Field Trips with Sue: CNN package at the Omni Hotel, Atlanta. Breakfast for four, activities, and one night stay.
• Overyonderlust: SteriPEN freedom. Microbes, bad. Clean water, good.
• Where am I Wearing: Brand new HTC SmartPhone, plus, an hour with a literary agent. (What, you don’t want this? Are you nuts?)
• Stuck at the Airport: Travel products mystery box. Laugh in the face of the TSA’s three ounce tyranny, you are READY!
• NW Trip Finder: Mt. Rainer Glacier and Waterfalls tour. The PNW is freaky beautiful. Come see some of it.
• Alaska Travelgram: Two for one Alaska and Seattle TourSaver books for discounted activities. I’ve used mine.They’ve saved me a pile.
• Hammock in Paradise: Two nights, excursions, camping gear rental, more on Espritu Santo Island. Whoa. How did I miss this?
• Go Backpacking: Premium membership in this travelblogging program.
• GranTourismo: Context tour for two. Educational walking tour any where Context offers their tours.

We’re really glad to be [involved] with so many others who aren’t afraid of crazy adventure and who know that when you work with the right organizations, a little effort can make a big difference.

Not only did we raise funds for Room to Read last year, but we also partnered with Passports with Purpose to help raise money for the village in India that all of you made possible. But we were so honored to volunteer there for almost a month and to be able to get to know Krishnammal Jaganathan. She’s an amazing woman, who started her activist career over 60 years ago working with the likes of Gandhi and Venoba.  When I tell you that you’ve helped make her dreams for a better life for her people come true by building that village … it’s no exaggeration. Through your creativity, your hard work, and your unique ability to inspire people, you are truly changing lives for generations to come.

Library foundation walls being completed near the Chilileka Middle Basic School in Zambia

So the adventure continues in Zambia. It’s a country of unparalleled beauty. I believe what you’re doing this year is even more impactful than the incredible feats you’ve achieved over the past few years. Bringing the tools for literacy to two communities in Zambia, is like opening up the world to the people who live there. There is nothing that is as empowering as the ability to read and write. It can be the key to a life free from poverty. A world of education, independent thought, job skills, activism, entrepreneurship – in short, a world where taking control of your own life, your own destiny – no matter your current conditions – is suddenly within reach.

So keep traveling, and keep blogging. Not only are you changing lives in Zambia, you’re making difference everywhere because in a world with so many problem that can seem so hard to solve, you’re paving the way, using your voices to show people what’s out there, what’s fun, what’s exciting, what’s good…  And what’s possible.

Round the World with Us returned as a sponsor for Passports with Purpose for the second year in a row. Learn more about their philanthropic efforts here:

Round the World with Us and Room to Read

Beth here, one of the co-founders of Passports with Purpose.

While we’re in the process of gearing up for this year’s fundraiser, I thought you might like to hear about what you made happen through last year’s Passports with Purpose.

You’ll recall that our 2010 fundraiser brought in nearly $65,000 through Friends of LAFTI. Those funds are helping build 25 homes in a small village, Karunganni, in South India.

Karunganni is located in the state of Tamil Nadu. A small village near the coast, it’s far enough inland to have dodged the tsunami in 2004, but is prone to flooding and, like much of India, struggles with extreme poverty.

In January, I visited Karunganni just as ground was being broken on those homes. What I found there was a very grateful community where most people live in poorly built mud huts that crumble and need to be patched and rebuilt every few years.

With the funds raised through Passports with Purpose, 25 families are in the process of moving into well-built brick homes that are expected to last far longer than their mud huts. LAFTI provided the land for these families, now landowners for the first time! An added bonus is that the homes are signed over to the woman of the house – an amazing feat given that India is a very patriarchal country.

The thing that blows me away about this little story is that families are changed. Improved. Provided a new life. And that this would NOT have been possible without hundreds of people donating in $10 increments.

That’s powerful.

The photo at left was taken this summer at one of the partially built homes.

Once homes are complete, they’ll look like this home built in a nearby village through LAFTI.

Passports with Purpose 2011 launches on November 30th. It’s not too late to participate as a blogger or to donate a prize. And we encourage all to donate between November 30 – December 16!

When: Wednesday, November 30, 5pm-8pm

Where: Hotel 1000

RSVP: http://passportswithpurpose2011.eventbrite.com/

In the meantime, if you are a blogger, make sure you sign up to participate. The deadline to get your prize lined up and details sent to us is November 15.  Details here.