[ Mission: Agua-Possible ] is almost half funded! Your upvote or donation brings clean water back to Venezuelans!
I'm DRutter, and this is the 72nd 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 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 and internet blackouts happen regularly. 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 nearby families. Without a pump to bring water up from the aquifer, his harvests are reduced - and the neighborhood must forage for water elsewhere.
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.
Price and donations surge!
The STEEM price took a breather last week, but has moved ahead again this week, boosting the value of our holdings. We also received more generous donations, as you'll read below.
These factors, as well as upvotes on the previous post, add up to an all-time high level of progress! This is happening, and sooner than we might be expecting!
Will you make the water flow, with us?
Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:
Week 72
week 71 funds: 3039.296 Steem
new funds:
- week 71 post payout = 11.851 STEEM and 11.852 STEEM POWER = 23.703 Steem
- 10.0 STEEM direct donation from @kunschj
- 250.0 STEEM direct donation from @kunschj
- 132.178 STEEM via Steem and SBD donations from @pennsif and @adollaraday
- you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here
Total funds: 3455.177 Steem
x 0.177 USD/Steem = $611.57 USD (of $1300)
Current progress: 47.0%
We're almost 1/2 way! At 47%, we're the closest to complete we've ever been (we were 42% a couple weeks ago and 36% last week). I believe the second half of progress will take FAR less time and effort than the first half! In other words, we're on the downhill stretch!
"Hacerlo" - Get it done
This week, @Xpilar and @Streetstyle were commenting back and forth that "it's time to get it done" and that this worthwhile project needs to get completed (sooner rather than later). Everybody agrees on that, especially Edgar and his family! We all pledged to find new ways to make our goal happen sooner.
Longtime supporter Kunsch donated 10 Steem (as he often does) this week, but then turned around and donated another 250! That prompted me to release a second [MAP] post for the week, here. Upon hearing the great news and call to action, @Pennsif responded by sending over some SBD via @adollaraday! All this was put directly into the project holdings, and has resulted in our furthest progress yet.
It's all quite exciting! If you're not already involved in this fun, rewarding, and powerful experience, why not? Even a tiny upvote does have an effect, or you could choose to send in a hefty donation and send the progress meter jumping! Resteems and even comments do help as well.
Next week is already off to a good start, because that secondary post already has several juicy upvotes from @Reflektor and friends, and it will be included next Saturday after it pays out during the week.
In that post, I set forth an estimated and planned time of project completion: July 1, 2020! Only 5 months from now, I want to have funding completed and the currency being gathered/transferred, in order for the pump purchase and installation to go forward asap. If possible, I'd love the whole thing to be wrapped up and functioning by that date, but we'll simply do our best to make it happen as soon as possible!
Please don't let this positive energy and momentum fade, let's keep riding it, keep applying support for the project, and looking for ways to bring in others who want to help us get it done. Thank you to every single person involved, in whatever way you've contributed - YOU are making this happen! It wouldn't be happening without you. You're powerful.
Upvoting this post is MUCH appreciated! 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
Thanks for catching that @drutter and I too am so happy and excited to see this moving foward in leaps and bounds rather than steps and skips. I have one more Kobe post payout pending plus one #spud post pending payout that will also be used for MAP as well. Also, once #spudx is over and the winners figured out, I plan to push a little harder to get this project moving.
And yes, I think that once this project gets past 50% and closer to 100% it should go exponentially faster.
Hey @Streetstyle, your 2nd direct donation of 20.0 STEEM (in honor of Kobe Bryant) was just received! They'll both be on the coming update, Saturday! Thank you very much :)
Ok great, glad to see this project moving forward rather than sideways or worse backwards. Now that #spudx is over I will chill for a bit, but then I hope to help MAP again. I am hoping to help get it to 75% soon, especially if the Steem price can hold or even help just a little bit more. I also have a SPUD post that I pledged for MAP, so that will be on its way in the next couple of days.
As for #spud I appreciate you being considerate of others. Thank you, take care and Full Steem Ahead!
Awesome, thank you so much!
How do you mean considerate of others? I tagged this post with your spudx just to help boost it and show support. I'm glad it has gone well for you :)
Here's a cool stat...
STEEM is up to 0.19 USD today. The 3455 STEEM our project is holding (as of the last update) is already worth more than half what we need for the pump! Even without the new donations (which won't be added to the 3455 until Saturday), we're more than half way.
If the STEEM price continues to recover, we'll be finished soon, without any further support required! That has been our goal and hope ever since the price crash, and it's finally (hopefully) happening!
With your help we're so much closer to completion than we would have been! I'm so excited about the recent progress. Thank you again and good luck with all your goals and projects :D
You are welcome @drutter I am just glad to be able to help. I guess I am just grateful for where I am in life, and wish the entire world was in a better situation that it currently is in. I truly believe and feel that no person on this planet should be suffering. I truly believe that there is enough wealth and intelligence on this planet for that to be so, but unfortunately the shackles of the old systems of governance (feudalism/slavery etc) continues today through economic slavery and other means. The Kings and Queens of old are now Presidents and Governors supported by Knights at the corporate round table.
We are all happily horse-blinded economic drones.
Bitcoin or its idea was meant to free us of those invisible shackles but it got hijacked.
Then Steem came along.
100% agreed about the state of the world, and that we could all have plenty to eat, drink, shelter, and so on - if greed and corruption could be solved.
Until then, I do what I can do help the people.
I myself am below the poverty line, sometimes without enough to eat, disabled with chronic illnesses. My wife is also disabled, fighting cancer, and we just had a surprise baby (that should not have been possible) after 10 years together, so she is recovering from surgery on top of everything else. Neither of us can drive, and it's the middle of winter, snow and ice everywhere, so it's VERY hard to walk anywhere to get food, medicine, etc. Life is very hard for us, and we're at risk of losing everything if anything else goes wrong, but even still, I continue this project because I believe in seeing things through, and helping others.
Blessing with a new baby.... and I hope that things do get better for you and your family @drutter Your gesture to Edgar and his family now has even more meaning for me, seeing as how you find yourself in difficult times as well. yet you are concerned with helping others.
Well, hopefully Steem and all the cryptos keep this up, and maybe at least financially, things will begin to turn around for you, which in turn could help with other little things.
Thanks very much :)
My son is 4 months old now, so he was created one year ago. This project was 21 weeks old when he was conceived!
When we found out, it was a huge surprise, but we thought about it hard and decided to change our lives completely, move to a small town, and so on. It was very hard, both of us being sick and not having much family support, but we did it. Our son is very happy and healthy and everything was worth it :) But [MAP] came close to failure. I do not like to stop something once I start it, but my child's life would have to come first. Luckily, I was able to do both, without any major problems.
I'm very thankful to have help from you and others because it has been a bit tough a few times. Thank you.
47%!
Right on!!!
Wow, yeah! Shooting up toward 50% :D
Upvoted and Resteemed.
Quick progress to make up for that stagnation is sure nice. 47% is quite the milestone. Upvoted and resteemed.
Good progress. I've just sent over a little more SBD from @adollaraday to help out.
Nice! Thank you to Streetstyle, Xpilar, and you!!
Happy to help.
Thank you so much! It converted to 106.477 STEEM and will be mentioned again this coming Saturday! Should be another good week for progress :D
Excellent.
Hi @drutter our support of Mission Aqua-Possible Project as 30 Steem from @Stef1, and @art-venture project!
Thank you so much, @Stef1 and @art-venture! That's awesome :D
Your 30 STEEM was received, and will be officially added to the calculations in the update post on Saturday!
Thanks for your upvotes, too.
STEEM just recovered to 0.21 USD, the highest price in over 6 months, boosting the value of our holdings to 725 USD (even without the new donations coming in)!
That means we're already over half way!
Also, we just got a generous donation from @Reflektor of 50.0 STEEM! Thank you very much - it's going to be a great update on Saturday.
And just in time for the update post tomorrow, @Kunschj has sent in 100 STEEM toward [MAP]!
Combined with the price jump to about 20 cents, it's going to be an epic week!
Already a note to add, which is that @Streetstyle sent me 20.0 STEEM today, toward the project! It isn't listed in this post, so it will count toward the current new week. Off to a great start, thank you Streetstyle!
His note with the donation was "for M.A.P. in Honor of Kobe Bryant".
🎁 Hi @drutter! You have received 0.1 STEEM tip from @ninahaskin!
@ninahaskin wrote lately about: Spud X / Spud (Steem Power Up Day) 02/01/2020 ♨️
Feel free to follow @ninahaskin if you like it :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.
👍👍
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