Last year, all of us at The World is Calling (yep, all two of us) joined the Passports with Purpose effort to help build a school in Cambodia. Together with other travel bloggers, and amazing travel sponsors who threw their shoulders behind the effort, we raised thousands of dollars and the school is now up and running! Educating a generation of children will impact many families in the years ahead, improving their chances of gaining more meaningful work. This year, we’re again a part of the Passports with Purpose cause, and the goal is to build an ENTIRE VILLAGE in India.

Built in partnership with Friends of Lafti, and sponsors like BootsnAll, LiveMocha, Round the World with Us, HomeAway, Traveller’s Point, Hostelling International, Quintess, Raveable, TravelPost, and Uptake, this village will be for the outcasts, those who have nowhere else to go and few interested in helping them, truly the most desperate among us. And we’re endeavoring to build 25 homes for these people (LAFTI can build a home for about $2000 and places the deed in the woman’s name). For more specifics and information, you can check out the Passports with Purpose/About page.

$2000 for a home to house a family?? A whole village for $25,000? We can do it…together. In fact, we’re ALREADY HALF-WAY to goal! Help us finish the task!

The super cool thing? For every $10 you donate, you get a chance at one of the great prizes offered: A Delta flight voucher, travel wear, electronics, gift certificates, hotel stays, travel gear, vacation packages and more! For a complete list and/or to donate, visit the Passports with Purpose Donor Prize page. We’re adding a 3G Kindle to the mix! But you can put your chances on any of them–all for $10 a chance.

Further clarification: For $10, you can put a chance on one prize; for $50, you can put a chance on five prizes (or get five chances at one prize), for $100, you can put a chance on ten prizes, etc. Yeah, it’s kinda like gambling for a good cause.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress on fund-raising. I’ll post in comments below as they come in! And thanks for considering joining our effort. –Lisa