Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Traveling with a Purpose


In 3 weeks and 2 days I will leave Stockton to head to Virginia (via Houston) for Semester at Sea! I'm spending August through December traveling around the world as a residence life staff member and coordinator of religious & spiritual life for 650 college students from across the country. We will visit 11 countries (not counting the US) over 108 days. It's going to be amazing and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!

I love to travel and this is a dream trip. I don't want it to be only about my having a good time, though. I've been thinking a lot about the places we'll be and what our visit might mean to the people we'll meet. As a scholar and practitioner of mission I'm hoping to learn a lot about how to respond to the disparities between rich and poor in more effective ways. I don't want to wait until I get back, though. I can't carry medical supplies or cases of Plumpy'nut. But I know that I can take you - at least virtually! So, starting today I am collecting pledges of donations to NetsforLife based on the number of nautical miles we sail.

NetsForLife
is a program of Episcopal Relief & Development and a host of other partners that is working to prevent malaria in Africa, largely by providing mosquito nets to people who don't have them - much less the anti-malarial medications I'll be taking. It's an easy fix for a disease that kills a million people every year - most of them under the age of 5.

Our voyage will be about 21,000 nautical miles. A pledge of 1 cent per mile for the whole voyage would amount to $210. So, start thinking about what you can pledge! During the voyage I'll post our progress in the box on the right and we can watch the pledges grow - for the whole voyage or portions of it between ports of call. If you're ready to pledge now, say so in the comments section and encourage others to do the same. I'm going to pledge 1 cent per nautical mile for the whole voyage. Who wants to match it?!