2 big donations made major progress toward our [Mission: Agua-Possible] goal this week!

I'm DRutter, and we're on week 34 of Mission: Agua-Possible! This post 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 recently, as president Maduro doubled down on his currency manipulation, price-fixing, propagandizing citizens, 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, and 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. Millions are fleeing on foot - if they can. 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 previously-unknown man called Guaidó. Electrical blackouts have become common. It seems that violence is coming. Stability for the people appears out of reach.

Edgar

Months ago, I found the blog of 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 earn 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 garden output has dropped - and the neighborhood must forage for water elsewhere.

( Edgar photographed examples of government corruption this week, showing how infrastructure projects are granted to corrupt insider friends - and then abandoned. )

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

Big donations of cheap Steem!

The price of Steem dipped down below $0.3 USD again this week, and a couple people stepped up with donations of 20.0 Steem each! A big shout out and thank you to both @lyndsaybowes and @jk6276!!

Those 40 Steem are already appreciating against the USD, as Bitcoin leads the way to a cryptocurrency bull market upswing. See the results in the numbers section below!

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

Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:

Week 34

week 33 funds: 210.035 Steem

new funds:

• week 33 post payout = 0.216 SBD and 0.702 STEEM POWER = 1.404 Steem
• 20.0 Steem direct donation from @jk6276
• 20.0 Steem direct donation from @lyndsaybowes
• 0.5 Steem direct donation from @girlsofgreen
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 251.939 Steem

x 0.334 USD/Steem = $84.15 USD (of $1300)

Current progress: 6.5%

The big Steem donations this week put us at over 250 Steem. At today's price, which has come up a little off the recent low, it's worth over 84 USD, inching back up to our previous high of about 7% progress! Thank you so much to the 2 big donators last week.

Steem is still VERY cheap, and it would be great to continue to accumulate it the way we've been doing! Then it won't take long, as the bull market returns and prices jump, before we'll have our 1300 USD - and Edgar's farm will have a water pump!

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