[ Mission: Agua-Possible ] Collecting STEEM to buy Edgar's family some Christmas water! See details here!

I'm DRutter, and here's the 64^th weekly post for Mission: Agua-Possible! It updates our progress toward the goal of 1300 USD (in STEEM) for a well pump to bring water to the family farm of @EdgarGonzalez.

Background

Severe economic and political crisis over the past few years in the South American country of Venezuela have intensified in 2019, as president Maduro doubled down on his currency manipulation, price-fixing, propaganda, and suppressing resistance. You've heard about the country's recent turmoil, but the world's media isn't showing us even half the reality!

I began to see more and more Steem users from Venezuela, I started to hear their interesting stories - and ask questions. I discovered some dark truths about the economic and political situation there. Most shops are empty, the currency is collapsing, people are hungry - the economy is at a standstill. Theft, corruption, and violence escalate as society breaks down. Those who can are fleeing on foot - 8 million already. The harsh socialist government attempts to control/fix the economy, and blames problems on the people. Most government services (like running water) work only in certain areas - or not at all.

The people are desperate for any change and protests sometimes fill the streets for miles. Maduro announced that Venezuela will no longer accept US Dollars for oil exports, then tried to get his country's gold back from Bank of England, who refused. The Russian military has become involved, supporting Maduro. The Americans back a man called Guaidó, who also has little public support. Electrical blackouts happen regularly. The US is blockading the country with their navy from the sea. Stability for the people appears out of reach.

Edgar

In mid-2018 I found @edgargonzalez, the blog of Edgar, a Venezuelan man about my age. He's a father of young children, and a professional whose job disappeared because of the crisis. He feeds his family by fishing, harvesting fruits, and growing cassava on his late-father's plantation. He uses the Steem blockchain to share his stories and earn cryptocurrency to buy food. Shortly after I met Edgar, a power outage caused a failure of the pump used to bring water up to the farm. A repairman confirmed the pump is beyond fixing. Edgar had been using his well to water his crops, and to provide drinking water to his children and other families in the neighborhood. Without a pump to bring water up from the aquifer, his garden output has dropped - and the neighborhood must forage for water elsewhere.

( Edgar only made a single post again this this week, showing us a sunset over the water in South America. Edgar's phone has been breaking down lately, and the internet connection there remains very poor. With the STEEM price now so low it's no longer attractive to most Venezuelans trying to scrape together a living, posting here has become a luxury many can no longer justify. )

Without government water services, and now without water from his well, Edgar and a few other families are in a tough situation. I wondered what a poor Canadian man could do to help. After using the Steem blockchain to learn about the problems, I realized that it could also be the SOLUTION!

That's when I first began Mission Agua-possible! (The first post was here. I published a special video edition in week 43 here.) Once we gather 1300 USD worth of Steem, I'll transfer it to Edgar, to be converted to cash to buy the pump.

Water is life! Getting this pump for the farm as soon as possible is vital.

Holding on for dear life

After some off-and-on weeks recently, with support coming in from the community but the STEEM price continuing to weaken, this week was another lackluster one.

As you'll see in the financial figures below, the USD value of STEEM fell again this week. We received some donations and upvotes, but even that wasn't enough to keep us above 20% complete. :(

I continue to hope that the bottom is in, or almost in, and that soon we'll be returning to higher prices for STEEM. If it was 0.6 USD right now, we would already have enough for the pump! A year ago, in the earlier days of this project, the price WAS that much, and a lot higher, even. It's like we're pushing against a headwind, chasing an outcome that will never happen, unless we accelerate how much we give, OR the value of STEEM stops crashing. What's it going to be?

Will you make the water flow, with us?

Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:

Week 64

week 63 funds: 2126.784 Steem

new funds:

• week 63 post payout = 8.353 STEEM and 8.357 STEEM POWER = 16.71 Steem
• 12.493 STEEM direct donation from @streetstyle
• 0.5 STEEM direct donation from @MediKatie
• 10.0 STEEM direct donation from @hotsauceislethal
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 2166.487 Steem

x 0.119 USD/Steem = $257.81 USD (of $1300)

Current progress: 19.8%

I'm comfortable this afternoon in my little home up in Canada, where clean water comes out of the tap, and I have Christmas music playing. I'm thinking about my friends in Venezuela, some of them exposed to the elements, some without enough water, some without proper food because the crops get stolen or they dry out. Maybe it's cliche, but I wonder how their Christmastime has been so far. Going without running water is especially hard. I've done it a few times in my life, for maybe a week or two at a time, and it's life-changing. Having to do that, with elderly and children, for years on end? That's not even humane.

Christmas water gift for Edgar??

_{Of course, I haven't mentioned this to Edgar, so he'll find out with everyone else. :)}

Is there any way we could gather up a little bit of extra STEEM this coming week, on top of regular donations and upvotes, and I'll send it to Edgar as a small preliminary [MAP] gift, so he can convert it to local currency and buy his family some bottled water for Christmas?

Even if we can get enough for him to convert to a few bucks, that'll get them clean safe drinking water to last through the holidays. If there's any left over, he could spend it on whatever there is available at the market, to feed his wife and kids something extra at Christmas.

We can't finish the project in time for Christmas, but if we all pitch in, we could make sure they're not thirsty over the holidays, at least! If you're up for it, here's a couple ways we can pitch in:

• I'll post a comment below. Upvote that comment! 100% of its rewards will go to the Christmas water gift.
• When you send in a direct donation this week, let me know if you want some or all of it to go toward the Christmas water gift.

I'll announce how much we pooled together, in 7 days, on next week's update. Then I'll send it to Edgar via the Steem blockchain, and he can convert it locally to purchase the water. Maybe he'll be able to snap us some photos of the water, so we can see our accomplishment, and provide even more motivation to complete the main project and get a pump for the well!

Upvoting this post is appreciated so much! 100% goes to the project.

Mission Agua-Possible will help many people, and inspire other great projects. It's a group success story, playing out on the Steem blockchain. Together, we're going to dramatically improve the lives of a whole neighborhood that really needs it!

DRutter