Hyatt Hotels is sponsoring Loyalty Traveler with a raffle prize of Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 points for the 2013 Passports with Purpose (PwP) travel blogger fundraiser to build schools for students in Mali, Africa. Hyatt Gold Passport has been Loyalty Traveler’s prize sponsor for PwP since 2009.
Passports with Purpose is a grassroots annual effort since 2008 to raise money within the travel blogging community for a specific rural development project that helps a community in need somewhere around the world.
Passports with Purpose Donation links
- Donation Page with Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 points prize
- 2013 Prize catalog for Passports with Purpose.
- List of all prizes from travel bloggers (View only prize list with links to travel blog posts, however, no donations can be made on this page).
This year, the Passports with Purpose project goal is to raise $115,000 for buildOn.org to build three primary schools and fund three Adult Literacy Programs in the Sikasso Region of Mali, Africa. For more than two decades buildOn has mobilized rural villages in some of the poorest countries on the planet to build more than 500 schools. To date, buildOn has completed nearly 200 schools in the region, with more than 24,000 children attending buildOn schools in Mali on an annual basis.
BuildOn.org completed school projects.
I am a credentialed elementary school teacher in California, although I do not work as a classroom teacher since Loyalty Traveler is now my full time job. My wife is the working teacher now in our family and I keep in contact with school life and students. It is society’s job to educate the young.
I looked up some educational statistics on Mali. Numbers tell me quite a bit from experience with education in American society. I hope this makes an impact on you too.
Mali is a large landlocked country with the Sahara Desert in the northern part of the country. There are around 16 million people living in an area about the size of California and Texas combined. 85% of the population works in agriculture.
Here is the statistic that I hope means something to you. Over 50% of Mali’s population is under 18. Compare this to the USA where 23.5% of Americans are under 18. Mali is a country of children.
Here is the real shocker though. In the USA, 1 in 8 persons is 65 or older. In Mali, life expectancy in 2011 was 51 years. Fewer than 1 in 30 adults is 65 or older.
I am 53. The older I get, the better I understand the complex dynamic of science, economics and politics and how to work in a system to improve the lives of more people.
Who are teaching the children of Mali?
— 50% of Mali’s population lives on less than $1.25/day.
— 56% of Mali’s male population 15-24 years are literate = can read and write.
— 34 % of Mali’s female population 15-24 years are literate = can read and write.
This means about 1 in 2 men and only 1 in 3 women can read and write.
— 35% of males are enrolled in secondary education (high school).
— 24% of females are enrolled in secondary education (high school).
This means only 1 in 3 boys in Mali make it to high school and fewer than 1 in 4 girls.
How is the cycle of poverty going to improve without a self-sufficient population of scientists, engineers, educators and policy makers?
Schools will improve Mali.
Data: UNICEF data 2011.
How does Passports with Purpose work?
The 2013 online fundraising event will run from November 25, 2013 at 11:59pm EST and end on December 9, 2013 at 11:59pm EST. During that time you will be able to donate $10 on our catalog of prizes; each chance is $10 and all proceeds go to buildOn.
Prize winners will be announced on December 16, 2013.
Terms of Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 points prize
(These are the terms from Hyatt Gold Passport on their sponsorship form for Passports with Purpose prize).
Hyatt Gold Passport will award the winner 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points for free nights, as well as dining and spa experiences at any Hyatt Hotel or Resort around the world.
The winner of the Hyatt Gold Passport 110,000 points PwP raffle prize must be a member of Hyatt Gold Passport or join Hyatt Gold Passport (membership is free). Hyatt Gold Passport terms and conditions apply which can be found at http://www.goldpassport.hyatt.com/hyatt/customer-service/gp-terms-conditions.jsp.
In order to redeem Hyatt Gold Passport points for free night awards, members must make award reservations in advance directly with Hyatt Gold Passport. A credit card guarantee is required at time of booking.
Winner must provide their full name, address, phone number, email and Hyatt Gold Passport number to Ric Garrido to receive points in their account. It may take up to five weeks for the points to appear.
What can I do with 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points?
There are many ways to use Hyatt Gold Passport points. Hotel stays at more than 500 Hyatt brand hotels worldwide in Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt House and Hyatt Place are available for reservations using points.
Each hotel is currently placed in a hotel award category from 1 to 6. Hyatt Gold Passport will be changing its award chart January 7, 2014 with an increase in the cost of points at the higher category hotels. Fortunately, the winner of the 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points will have more than two weeks to make a reservation before the free night award category increase on January 7.
Hyatt Gold Passport member
Currently 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points can be redeemed for 5 nights at several of the finest hotels in the world. At the time of this post it is possible to book five nights at the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa or Park Hyatt Paris Vendome where rates frequently are more than $800 per night. There will be changes to Hyatt Gold Passport effective January 7, 2014. These points valued at $2,640 by Hyatt for this PwP prize can actually be worth as much as $4,000 for some hotel award stays.
Why is Loyalty Traveler participating in Passports with Purpose?
Loyalty Traveler allows me to write about travel topics that interest me. I love what I am doing. Five years ago some travel bloggers from Seattle came up with the cool idea of using social media to round up a bunch of travel bloggers and raise money for helping people in far away places by building some basic infrastructure for communities in need. We take so many basic needs for granted here in the USA.
Passports with Purpose lets me use my blog and industry contacts to have a direct, highly beneficial impact on real people somewhere who have real basic needs. Passports with Purpose allows travel bloggers to cooperatively fundraise and provide the money to an NGO with people in place who can take money and construct an infrastructure project quickly for a community.
I have seen photographs and heard stories about the school in Cambodia built with funds from PwP 2009. I have seen photos and video of the village built in India. Expedia produced a video covering the founders of Passports with Purpose and their visit to the library built in Zambia with $90.000 raised from the 2011 Passports with Purpose fundraiser. Last year PwP raised $116,000 to build five water wells in Haiti.
Mali is a travel destination that has intrigued me for years based on its historic culture and architecture.
This post is for the Passports with Purpose prize link for 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. Over the next two weeks of the fundraiser I will write more posts on Mali, schools and literacy and Passports with Purpose.
Our goal is $115,000 to build schools in Mali.
Help us make this project happen.
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