Hi, I'm DRutter, and welcome to the 65^th 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.

( Water for placeholder photo. Edgar's only post last week said his phone wasn't working properly and internet connection was infrequent. This week, there were no posts or comments from Edgar. I hope he's okay and can get online soon. )

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.

Mixed weeks lately

At STEEM's current price of 0.13 USD, we need exactly 10,000 of them to equate to 1300 USD for the pump. As you'll see below in the data, we're currently nearing one quarter that amount.

The past several weeks have been very up-and-down. This week was pretty mixed, with great upvotes thanks to people like @reflektor, @hingsten, and @xpilar... and a kind donation from @hotsauceislethal. We then got a bit of support from the price of STEEM, which bounced on rumours of a takeover this week.

We also collected a small amount of STEEM to put toward a Christmas water gift for Edgar and his family.

Will you make the water flow, with us?

Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:

Week 65

week 64 funds: 2166.487 Steem

new funds:

• week 64 post payout = 9.099 STEEM and 9.099 STEEM POWER = 18.198 Steem
• 15.0 STEEM direct donation from @hotsauceislethal
• 0.5 STEEM direct donation from @GirlsofGreen
• you can send me Steem directly and your donation will be noted here

Total funds: 2200.185 Steem

x 0.130 USD/Steem = $286.02 USD (of $1300)

Current progress: 22.0%

We've hit 2200 STEEM, everybody! Wow, that's amazing. When this started 65 weeks ago, 2200 STEEM was far more than we needed to buy the 1300 USD pump. Now, it's only 22% of the amount we need, which currently is exactly 10,000 STEEM.

But we're heading in the right direction, and we have some powerful friends lending us an upvote each week, plus many dedicated regulars doing all they can, so prognosis is still hopeful.

Christmas water gift for Edgar!

Thanks to upvotes from @vipservice and @j85063, and a direct donation of 0.5 STEEM from @hempy, we've got 1.412 STEEM set aside for some Christmas water. Thanks everybody!

Since Edgar hasn't been online this week anyway, and 1.4 STEEM (18 cents) isn't really enough to buy any water, let's see if any more donations come in the next week. That will bring us to Dec 21^st, in time to make the holidays just a bit less dry and uncomfortable.

If you'd like to contribute, you have until Saturday to upvote the "water gift" comment below! 100% of the rewards will go to Edgar for water. You can also send in a direct donation - mark it something like "water gift" so I know what to put it toward.

On Saturday I'll send Edgar whatever we've collected for it, and he can purchase some fresh drinking water to make his family's Christmas a bit happier. Trading for questionable water and hauling it home on your back may sound fun... but it actually isn't, especially on holidays. Thanks for helping me make a couple kids and their parents smile.

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