Santa & Piotr Visits Venezuela - JOIN OUR VENTURE TODAY

	Reading this post may take you more than 5 minutes, but it is in my humble opinion my most important publication this year. And at the same time it is my last post in 2018. So as a Christmas gift all I want is a few minutes of your time and attention. That's all I'm asking for.

INTRODUCTION

I remember quite well, how year ago for the first time I've learned about the current tragic situation of Venezuela. Naturally, I felt sorry for them the way I feel sorry for many others, who suffer on a daily basis. But like everyone else I kept on living my own life, knowing that there is very little (or nothing) I could do to help anyone. All I knew, Venezuela has been so far away and those are not even "our people". Different culture, different language, different everything.

And the truth is, if we cannot relate ourselves to others, nor can we find similarities with their lives to ours then we will never really care much. It is an unfortunate and flawed characteristics that we as humans seem to have. Simply because it is very hard to "be on the same page" which makes it very hard to sympathize with those struggling. So we end up getting used to it, fully aware that even if we would like to help then it may not be technically possible.

CASE OF VENEZUELA

	With Venezuela, it all seems to be so very different. At least from my perspective. After all I've met so many of them here on Steemit.

And I see their population as a "pioneers" when it comes to the adoption of crypto as a form of payments. And perhaps also their strong presence on Steemit is what attracted my attention.

It didn't take me long to realize, how many of those people used to have decent jobs, quite often in IT sector. With solid degrees, speaking decent English, having often high education and work ethic that is very similar to the one in western cultures. If you add their motivation and determination, you may start seeing so many similarities to us. At least I start seeing them.

Venezuela used to be one of the richest and prosperous countries in the entire south and central america. Not that long time ago really. So what happened to them? Without getting deeply into politics, Venezuela suffered so-called "power vacuum" which resulted in establishing the current administration.

Soon after that took place, their entire economy collapsed and hyperinflation hit the roof leaving millions without means to live a decent life. Creating a situation where keeping earned money doesn't have sense, because they lose value faster than anyone can imagine. Lack of food, medical supplies and basic necessities became an every day struggle.

VENEZUELIANS here on Steemit

	Learning about the roots of their country problems made me realize, that a similar scenario could actually happened to many western countries. After all, didn't we just lately experience similar issues in Greece?

So getting to know several Venezuelians here on the Steemit platform only brought me even closer to those people. Why? Because I can relate myself to them. Language is not a huge barrier, work ethic and culture is very similar to our western societies. On top of that most of the time we share similar interests and values.

And most of all - being present here allows me to change some of their lives. Even if only just a little bit. I feel that today I can make some difference and I enjoy that feeling, even if it would only last for a short while and help very few. And I really hope many of you will join me.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE - Santa Venezuela

(pic source: http://www.circlesgn.org)	That brings me to the point, where I decided to go through all my contact list of people I've met here on Steemit within the past year. And select those few who are from Venezuela, who I got to know and I've learned to trust them. I will then present a short story of all those few people right below (on top of comment section).

It did cost me some time and effort to learn about them and share their life stories. And I truly can only hope that you (my dear readers) will spare a few minutes of your time and read my publication until the end.

My goal is to support all those few people and hopefully collect some STEEM from everyone's donation, which I will later transfer between them. After all Christmas is coming and obviously I would love us to share our joy with closest and the ones we love. But also I hope we can stop for a second and think of those who used to have a similar life and now they can hardly cook a simple dinner for their closest family.

EMPTY SEAT

	In my culture, during Christmas dinner we used to have one extra empty sit prepared at the dinner table. That was a tradition which I quite enjoyed, even if this sit has been always empty. But it represents something. It shows our willingness to help a stranger in need on that particular night.

The idea was simple: if someone would knock on our door and ask if we could share our food, then we would welcome him into our home and make sure that he isn't lonely, cold and hungry at that particular night. It never really happened, noone ever knocked on our door asking for food. But I still can appreciate beauty coming from this idea.

HOW CAN WE ALL HELP?

line2 - Kopia.png

I would like to make it clear from the very beginning. I understand that not everyone is in a position to show financial support. If you can then please transfer as little as 9 STEEM to my account (@crypto.piotr).(in memo please write: SANTA)

Since we're helping 8 people/humans (and a little dog), then this generous donation will allow everyone from the list below to receive some support. I will personally donate up to 50 STEEM but I do not expect similar donations from you guys.	(pic source: http://www.wheatfieldschool.org)

Small support of 9 STEEM/SBD will be already greatly appreciated. My hope is that we can help those few Venezuelans start their new year without stress and perhaps celebrate New Year Eve with their families. With a full stomach. We cannot change their life but surely we can make it better. Even if just for a short while.

In any case, if you cannot transfer any funds then please drop some supportive comment and RESTEEM this post, so it would reach a wider audience. Perhaps you can spare several minutes of your valuable time and open profile of each one of those few Venezuelians, follow them and send them your kind wishes. Trust me, showing "human" behavior and reaching out is sometimes all we need to go through hard times.

VOUCH FOR ME

I fully understand the fact that not everyone reading this post knows me and have a reason to trust in my honest intentions. After all the internet is full of scammers. If you're not feeling comfortable with transferring any support through my profile, then please don't do it. In that case (and since you want to help) please send some STEEM directly to those in need (listed below).

Those who know me already long enough: PLEASE VOUCH FOR ME in the comment section below. This surely will bring more trust, which is obviously needed to organize any sort of support campaign.

IMPORTANT: I would appreciate every comment. I read them all and reply to every single one. But please keep in mind, that I would not like this topic to turn into grounds for political or religious discussions. Neither I would like to talk about migration. Those topics are just too sensitive.

line2 - Kopia.png