[Mission: Agua-Possible] is 20% complete! Your upvote will help us bring water to thirsty Venezuelans!

I'm DRutter, and this is week 50 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 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 - 6 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, "eager to help" (hungry to invade). Stability for the people appears out of reach.

Edgar

About a year ago, 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, 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 Junior sustained damage to his eye's cornea while playing this week. The correct medicine was difficult and expensive to obtain. )

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.

Treading water, again

Huge thanks to @kunschj, who offered to double all other donations over the past week!

The new blockchain rules (after HF21) mean it's going to get harder for our supporters to get their support to us! Please read below how you can help.

Will you make the water flow, with us?

Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:

Week 50

week 49 funds: 1446.577 Steem

new funds:

• week 49 post payout = 5.415 STEEM POWER = 5.415 Steem
• 50.0 STEEM direct donation from me
• 50.0 STEEM donation match from @kunschj
• 5.0 STEEM direct donation from @greatesteem
• 5.0 STEEM donation match from @kunschj
• 2.0 STEEM direct donation from @phoenixwren
• 2.0 STEEM donation match from @kunschj
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 1565.992 Steem

x 0.167 USD/Steem = $261.52 USD (of $1300)

Current progress: 20.1%

The price of STEEM resumed its decline this week, but some awesome donations kept us above 20% progress! @kunschj matched our donations this week, STEEM for STEEM! (If you'd like to pledge to match all donations in a coming week, or have other ideas, please let me know!) Thank you @kunschj for keeping the momentum going!

This week, HF21 brought new hardships for content-creators, and for projects like [Mission: Agua-Possible] that rely on upvotes. Only half of the payout now goes to the author, and the other half goes back to the upvoter! I really don't think this is why people are supporting this project - to get some of the payout - but that's what is happening!

One way we can combat this is to get our payout to reach at least 20 STEEM (about 3.5 USD). We've managed it only a couple times in our 50 weeks, but it's possible. If we can't do it, our payouts will be even further reduced, and given to authors whose posts do pay out at least 20 STEEM. It seems wrong that charities can be stolen from this way, but that's how the new rules are, and there's nothing we can do about it except try to make things work.

So, please, give your largest possible upvote this week! 100%, if you don't mind being so generous?! Please get that total up, so WE get a bonus, instead of getting taken from. Edgar's family needs proper running water now more than ever.

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