[ Mission: Agua-Possible ] thanks the Steemlove community for helping us get back above 20% complete!

I'm DRutter and this is the 63^rd 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 returned from a sudden posting absence this week, with a post about a lucky fishing trip. Internet service continues to be spotty there. )

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.

Support from all sides

After a disheartening week last week, the STEEM price stabilized this week, and more community support arrived in the form of upvotes and direct donations.

As you'll see below, we are edging back up in progress. It sure helps when the price doesn't collapse!

We do receive some downvotes now, sadly. I try not to let it bother me, or to take it personally. But with the HF21 rules making it so hard on us already, curators getting half their donation back now, and the collapsing value of STEEM, anyone taking shots at our project certainly isn't making friends that way. Please, if you have a problem with me, take it out on me some other way - or better yet, talk to me about it so we can resolve it. Downvoting this important potentially-life-saving project is really not appropriate, to put it mildly.

Will you make the water flow, with us?

Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:

Week 63

week 62 funds: 2056.087 Steem

new funds:

• week 62 post payout = 13.848 STEEM and 13.849 STEEM POWER = 27.697 Steem
• 42.0 STEEM support post donation from @xpilar
• 1.0 STEEM direct donation from @hempy
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 2126.784 Steem

x 0.124 USD/Steem = $263.72 USD (of $1300)

Current progress: 20.3%

Back over 20%, that feels better. I hope that's the last of the teens we'll see, and that we'll soon be 1/4 complete.

Lots of thanks to @streetstyle and @xpilar and @sultan-aceh @ reflektor (and others) who created some community buzz around the project in the past week or two! This is what keeps us going, and we really appreciate your love. I hope anyone from our project who's interested in what you do will get involved. There's a lot of good will and mutual respect between our people. Thanks for being there for us!

And thanks to anyone who resteemed last week's post. If you didn't receive a Peace Token for doing so, please notify me and I'll fix that! I'm also sending Edgar one token for each resteem, and I'll extend these offers to this week as well. Resteems help us get new eyes into the project and keep us visible on the blockchain!

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