After 1.5 years, Coronavirus has ended [ Mission: Agua-Possible ] in failure. Lo siento, Edgar!
This is DRutter with the 78th 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 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 and internet blackouts happen regularly. 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 nearby families. Without a pump to bring water up from the aquifer, his harvests are reduced - and the neighborhood must forage for water elsewhere.
( Edgar helped clean up some overgrown roadside weeds this week, since the government long ago stopped caring for such things. )
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! It is vital we get this pump for the farm as soon as possible.
A tragic sudden collapse of crypto prices devastates the project
The absolutely crumpling of the cryptocurrency market this week, especially STEEM, plunged our progress from over 70% to well under half way - despite generous upvotes from @Fundition, @Xpilar, @Reflektor, and @Canadian-Coconut.
With a viral pandemic, financial collapse, and spreading lockdowns, the project has no visible path to victory. See below for the weekly breakdown, and a discussion about what happens next.
Much appreciation to those who upvoted last week:
Week 78
week 77 funds: 4313.540 STEEM
new funds:
- week 77 post payout = 23.150 STEEM and 23.151 STEEM POWER = 46.301 STEEM
- 10.0 STEEM direct donation from @Kunschj
- you can send me cryptocurrency directly and your donation will be noted here
Total funds: 4369.841 STEEM
x 0.133 USD/STEEM = $581.19 USD (of $1300)
Current progress: 44.7%
Last week, we believed we were one month from installing the pump.
This week, our funds aren't even worth half what is needed, with further falls possible soon. Also, supply chains are breaking down all over the planet as China and other countries halt production and go into complete lockdown mode. That is making it very hard (if not impossible) to locate a suitable pump which can be shipped to and installed in Venezuela (which already has significant problems going on).
We're far short of our goal, and losing ground all the time. I've invested more than a year and a half into this project now, every week (even during the recent birth of my son). I've also invested a great deal of my own STEEM (approximately 1/3 of the project total came from me). I've worked full-time on this blockchain, without ever powering down or making a single cent in profits, and lost everything I started with.
To make matters worse, my personal situation has deteriorated in the past week. I don't talk about this much, but my wife and I are both disabled, and living essentially without any income. We're able to pay our rent and buy enough food to survive, but we have nothing left at the end of the month for savings. Nothing. We don't even have money for fun, or to celebrate birthdays etc.
Currently, we won't have any money for at least another week, but locally all the food (and diapers, and baby food, and medicine) has been bought by other people. The shelves are becoming completely empty of all essential items - just like in Venezuela! Even all the water is gone!
So now, I have almost no food, and my country is about to go on total lockdown. My wife and baby are vulnerable. I must do what I can to protect them, and to find them food, medicine, shelter. I must find water for my own family, now.
For this reason, and because there is no apparent way we can amass $1300, and because the pandemic has made sourcing a pump essentially impossible, I am cancelling and ending Mission: Agua-Possible. I'm very sorry to everyone this will affect.
What will happen now?
I will send all the funds (everything anyone sent to me, every payout of every post, all the upvotes, all the direct donations, all the tips, even some various tokens converted to STEEM) to Edgar, and he can buy whatever he needs with it. He will know how to spend it on his family better than I would.
I'm going to wait 2 weeks before sending the payment and making the last post. I'll continue to collect any donations, and put all payouts into the project, as always. If you were holding off on giving, now's your chance. Let's get whatever we can, and give it to Edgar, to do whatever he can for his family farm's dangerous lack of water.
Next Saturday, I'll post an update on how it's coming along, and the Saturday after will be the cutoff.
Tragedy
What a tragedy this is for everyone involved. We came SO close that it almost seemed impossible we could fail! And out of the blue, a virus crashed markets and threatened to change the world forever in the past 2 months.
I am deeply sorry to my friend, Edgar, for many reasons. I'm sorry that I haven't learned Spanish as well as you've learned English. I'm sorry I promised to make this pump happen for you and your family, and now all I'm bringing you is some money. I hope that it goes at least part way to making life better for you. I'm sorry I got your hopes up, I'm sorry I've wasted your time, and I'm sorry I failed.
To everyone who joined in with me in gathering funds for this man, thank you. And I'm sorry to you, as well. I promised to see my vision out, I said it was only a matter of when, not if. I said it was POSSIBLE, and I said I'd be there to make it happen. I don't like to use excuses. I said I'd succeed, and I didn't, and that's on me. I'm sorry.
I don't think this will be the case, but if there's anyone who donated to the project but now doesn't want their donation going to Edgar, please contact me (either here or privately).
We were going to show the world how blockchain can save and improve lives! :'(
Upvoting this post is MUCH appreciated and 100% goes to the project.
DRutter
Posted via Steemleo
