Mission: Agua-Possible is going to bring Water to families in Venezuela! Will you help?

We're now into week 6 of Mission Agua-possible! We're gathering Steem - equal to 1300 USD - to buy a pump for a neighborhood well. This will instantly provide years of clean drinking water for several families and a small farm in crisis-stricken Venezuela!

Background

Severe economic and political crisis over the past few years in the South American country of Venezuela intensified recently, as president Maduro doubled down on his currency manipulation, price-fixing, propagandizing citizens, and suppressing resistance. You may recall an attempted "drone attack" with explosives a couple months ago - that's Venezuela. But it's far worse than the world's media is telling us.

I met a few interesting people from Venezuela, and I started to hear their stories - and ask questions. I discovered the dark truth about the economic and political situation there. Shops are empty, people are hungry - the economy is at a standstill. Theft, corruption, and violence escalate as society breaks down. Millions are fleeing on foot - if they can escape. The harsh socialist government attempts to control almost every aspect of life, and blames problems on the people. Most government services (like running water) work only in certain areas - or not at all. Last week, Maduro announced that Venezuela will no longer accept US Dollars for oil exports, an act which brings more uncertainty for the people.

In the midst of all this, I met Edgar (@edgargonzalez), 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, foraging for fruits, and growing cassava on his late-father's plantation. He uses Steemit to share his stories and make Steem 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 gardens have withered - and the neighborhood must forage for water elsewhere.

This week, Edgar mentioned the state of his crops. The plants now rely on water from rain, which is scarce.

"In spite of not having water to irrigate the few plant that I have left, I always come to take a walk and see what to harvest..

Without government water services, and now without water from his well, Edgar and a few other families are in a dire situation. When I heard about this, through Steemit, I realized that Steemit could also be the SOLUTION!

That's when I stepped forward with Mission Agua-possible! Once we gather 1300 USD worth of Steem, I'll transfer it to Edgar, to be converted to cash to buy the pump.

Getting water flowing on the farm as soon as possible is vital. Water is life!

Backlash against Mission: Aguapossible?!

There was a solid community effort in week 1, generating about 36 Steem through a bunch of resteems and several generous upvotes. Since then the threads haven't generated much buzz, but as I said from the start; it's a matter of when, not if. This is happening. For the humans, animals, and crops involved, the sooner the better!

And now there's another reason to hurry: It seems the Steemit community is growing annoyed with Mission: Aguapossible! :(

That comment on last week's post called it spam. These accounts have massive amounts of STEEM (often loaned to them), and operate without any regulations or restrictions, like vigilantes, flagging content they don't like, or content posted by people they don't like.

Ironically, their warning comment itself is spam (unwanted copy-pasted material). It isn't even correct (that my post is spam). Completely incorrect and unwanted spam! And yet, a horde of sock-puppet accounts appeared immediately to upvote it with $1.25 in rewards, pushing down real comments and on-topic discussion.

Please help me legitimize this grassroots humanitarian initiative! Big upvotes are what do that. Imagine if that $1.25, instead of promoting spam, could have gone toward the pump?!?

Thank you for your help getting this week's thread SEEN, which is how we'll get it solved. Eventually, the right person may find our cause, and help with a big boost.

Thank you to everybody who upvoted last week's post!

Week 6

week 5 funds: 39.118 Steem

new funds:

• week 5 payout = 0.077 SBD and 0.098 Steem = 0.196 Steem
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be added here

Total funds: 39.314 Steem

Current USD value: $30.59 (of $1300)

Current progress: 2.3%

We raised only a fraction of a Steem last week, and the value of Steem fell again, so we went from 2.5% complete down to 2.3% complete. Hopefully we make FORWARD progress this week.

Upvoting this post helps - thank you so much! 100% goes toward the pump.

Mission Agua-possible will help many, and inspire other projects that help even more, making it a Steemit success story. Together, we'll cause a huge improvement in the lives of a whole neighborhood that really needs it!

DRutter

(Lo siento, no hay texto de traducción en español esta semana. Si necesitas un traductor, ve aquí.)