the next adventure...

Friends and Family,

As many of you know, I recently returned from 8 months of traveling in Mexico and Central America. The first 5 of those 8 months were spent studying in Mexico, while the remainder few months were spent traveling and volunteering in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. My last month and a half abroad I spent living and working with Jason and Sarah Furrow, a missionary couple who have dedicated their lives to creating and sustaining an orphanage in rural Honduras.

In the village of Urraco there are problems of gender inequality, education barriers, violence, and harsh living conditions. Each of these things can be related to farming and the harsh conditions that rural farmers face in their daily lives. Almost everyone who lives in the Urraco area survives from farming, and many are still going hungry.

Sarah and Jason desire that their land be used to grow food, to provide healthy fresh food to the orphans that they will raise, and to be a place where local farmers can access resources and information about sustainable methods of practicing agriculture in the mountains of Honduras. There are many hopes and dreams for their agricultural program, but currently there is no funding that goes directly towards the agriculture that they do, or to the work that needs to be done there.

As a student of “Rural Agriculture Development” at the University of Guelph, it is my interest and hope to return to Honduras this coming summer and to aid in the development of this agricultural program; to begin seed-testing, setting erosion barriers, and preparing and planting the soils on their property. My hope is to work with local farmers, and other nearby missionaries, so that we can exchange farming ideas, and build community.

I have been trying for a while to think of a creative fund raising ideas for this project and I have decided that, for the month of November (which is soon approaching), I will participate in a writing competition called Nanowrimo. In short, Nanowrimo is a competition in which you are deemed a winner if you can successfully write a 50,000 word novel between midnight of October 31 and midnight of November the 30th. My novel will be a reflection of a few of the incredible and diverse women I have met in the last 3 years of travels.

I am asking that people pledge to sponsor me to write this novel. Anyone who gives over 25 dollars will be given a free copy of my music CD (a 10 song compilation of original songs recorded in my living room) and also an online copy of the story (though most certainly not the first November draft). I can assure you that I will be tracing every penny of the money through my online blog so that you can know what it it is being used for and follow my work.

I can make no promises that the novel will be a good one, but I hope it will be the start to something that is both readable and enjoyable. If you would like to pledge to sponsor me, please call me or email me, and let me know the amount. If you could pledge before November that would be ideal, though I will accept pledges until November 31st. December I will contact you to let you know whether or not I have completed the 50,000 words. Please remember that even a few dollars buys a lot of seeds!
Thanks friends,

Bethany Klapwyk
bklapwyk@uoguelph.ca
519 821 4992
my blog: The address to that blog is: http://bethanykyla.blogspot.com
More information about Jason and Sarah and the orphanage can be found at, http://www.givehope2kids.org/. Also check out the600.info/, a nearby ministry I volunteered with and also hope to support.