STEEM price falters, but [Mission:Agua-Possible] pushes on toward our goal! Will you help?

Please read (and upvote) to help us put clean water in the glasses, sinks, and irrigation system of a small farm in crisis-stricken Venezuela! Welcome to Mission: Agua-Possible! This is the 15th week of our efforts to gather Steem equal to 1300 USD, to buy a pump for a neighborhood well.

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 "exploding drone attack" there earlier this year. But the world's media isn't showing us even half the reality.

I met a few people from Venezuela, and I started to hear their interesting 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. 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, claiming he would steal it. Now there is talk of Russian military involvement, American meddling, and worse.

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.

It was a quiet and sad Christmas this year, not just at Edgar's farm, but all over the region.

Without government water services, and now without water from his well, Edgar and a few other families are in a tough situation. When I heard about this problem, 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 this pump to the farm as soon as possible is vital. Water is life!

The value of Steem faltered this week, but we brought in plenty of it!

Steem is down from $0.32 to $0.27 USD, but that's still higher than the $0.21 price it touched the week before! Upvotes were our strength this week, although a few donations also helped. Thank you to everyone who pitched in over Christmas to keep this awesome project moving forward!

Resteems help get new eyes (and upvotes) into the project, so thank you if you're able to resteem occasionally.

And a big thank you to everybody who upvoted last week's post!

And those who upvoted the bonus comment in that post:

Week 15

week 14 funds: 95.159 Steem

new funds:

• week 14 payout = 0.024 SBD, 6.708 SP, and 6.641 Steem = 13.416 Steem
• week 14 bonus comment payout = 0.356 Steem
• 1.0 Steem direct donation from @zcopley
• 1.0 Steem direct donation from @bobinson
• 1.0 Steem direct donation from @smokiethebear912
• 1.0 Steem direct donation from @greatesteem
• 1.0 Steem direct donation from @vantocan
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 113.931 Steem

Current USD value: $31.34 (of $1300)

Current progress: 2.4%

The drop in Steem value was offset by our strong gains this week. There's now 114 Steem set aside toward the project!!

M:A-P is gaining momentum as we end 2018 and flip the calendar! 2019 is the year this project funding will complete, and Edgar will install a brand new pump into his father's aquifer! We'll see photos of clean drinking water, and irrigated crops, empowering an entire neighborhood to stay hydrated and fed through the crisis. Envision that and keep making steps toward it! It's happening - thank you for being part of Mission:Agua-Possible!

Upvoting this post is appreciated so much! 100% goes toward the pump.

You'll also find my comment below, also with 100% payouts to the pump, so that generous upvoters have the option of contributing TWICE per week.

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