HOSKY LATAM SPECIAL

Hosky is a funny guy with a serious side - a champion of the underdog and challenger of the establishment. He also, in case you missed it, is originally from Mexico. This combination made him a great fit to host the monthly LATAM gathering. This is always a happy bunch and the space, as usual, felt like a group of friends- all with exciting tales to tell.

The first speaker was Jorge from Agua Pool. Jorge became interested in cryptocurrency as a hedge against inflation. He looked into several different options prior to discovering the potential of Cardano in January of 2021. His company, Tinson, is dedicated to water treatment and renewable energy in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. As his full-time occupation is related to the implementation and design of water purification and wastewater treatment options, Jorge chose to focus on using his stake pool to provide safe filtered water, free of charge to people in his local communities. That effort has been such a success, he has submitted a Catalyst proposal in Round 8 to expand the services he can provide, linked here. This proposal, if funded, will allow Jorge to provide clean, safe water to many more communities. He has already met with town leaders and determined the placement of the water treatment systems in secure areas with minimal cost. His experience will allow him to successfully install these systems. What better way to educate people about the benefits of Cardano than by providing the most essential resource of all - clean, safe drinking water.

The next guest was Juan from DOT5 Stake Pool who, as usual, has a lot going on. Among other things, Juan has signed up to be a Flickto Ambassador. Flickto is a dynamic project out of the UK that intends to decentralize media. They already have an impressive list of partnerships, including Bazooka Bunny, a media production company with over eighty years of industry experience. As an ambassador, Juan’s role is to educate and inform the larger Cardano community about the happenings and opportunities available through Flickto. For example, they have an ISPO opportunity at the moment. Delegation is rewarded with FLICK tokens. These tokens will allow holders to vote on projects and see early releases down the road. Juan is also making educational videos about the project for the Spanish speaking community. Additionally, he just got back from The Cardano Hotel in Barcelona, Spain where he had a lovely time although sadly, he missed meeting Alfred.

The Cardano Hotel is a popular destination as Martin from ITZA Stake pool is planning a trip there as well. In addition, he is working with Falcon stake pool to create some Milkomeda and Flint wallet tutorial videos in Spanish. Another ongoing project is to create an art gallery in the metaverse, although the exact nature and location of the gallery is still to be determined. For now, he is investigating all options including Pavia and the ALDEA marketplace. The final decision will be made at a future date, but the preliminary gallery photos suggest the result will be nothing short of spectacular. The goal is to develop a metaverse art gallery that, with an easy selection, moves you to a marketplace and facilitates the purchase and minting of an NFT. When complete, it will be an easily accessible, fluid experience, entirely in the metaverse. Also, if you are looking for a stake pool with a variety of rewards, ITZA offers: Hosky token, access to the seal pool vending machine, a series of ITZA coins through pool perks and a loyal delegator NFT that allows long time delegators to receive ADA rewards even when the pool isn’t minting blocks. All this in the first year!!

The lovely Maria Eugenia from WHITE pool dropped by to give us an update on Project Espiga and their work to help the Wichi. In the course of the last year, WHITE pool has donated 22,000 ADA to help these children. The Wichi are native people to South America - the original owners of the land. As with many indigenous populations, they have not been well treated by nation states. If you are interested in learning more about the plight of the Wichi across South America, you can do so here. WHITE pool is focused on the Wichi living in Argentina who benefit from Fundacion Espiga. Recently a school for the children was also destroyed in a fire. WHITE pool is also focused on the rebuilding, but at the moment this is being hampered by government red tape.

Jose from ADAOne Pool recently completed a 4000km drive as a part of their recently funded F7 Catalyst project to investigate and build a solar farm in an area of Argentina that has some of the highest solar radiation in the world. There are many things to consider prior to installation, including the type and durability of panels, concerns about damage due to high winds and keeping the panels clean in the desert where the water is not readily available and is full of minerals that could damage the panels. Additionally, there is the determination of what to do once the power is generated - whether to involve the government or sell the power to a private company. Each scenario has its own positives and negatives so the ADAOne team is taking all of this under consideration in designing and placing their solar project. While the solar radiation here is large enough to power all of Argentina, ADAOne intends to start on a modest scale and learn as they go.

We received an update on Aldea DAO. They are still working through their iteration zero. They are busy investigating and implementing a multisignature wallet so that funds can be distributed from the DAO once a minimum number of signatures are received. They are also working on additional aspects of fair and secure funding distribution within the DAO.

Alex with LATAM Cardano Community dropped by to tell us about their mission. This is not a stake pool, nor a DAO. Rather it is a growing open community aimed at the thirty-three countries of Latin America, that share history and culture. The goal is to create awareness about Cardano and Catalyst and their potential to help remove the economic and governmental constraints that keep thirty percent of the Latin American population below the poverty line. LATAM Cardano Community hosts a town hall every Thursday at 630 pm GMT-3. They are also working on a Challenge for Catalyst F9 to bring back Latin America focused categories (as it was the Grow Latin America one). They did take some of the community feedback, so they are working on a more focused challenge this time - more related to recruiting LATAM developers and community outreach. They are also working on an education initiative which has already provided courses on creating nodes, eUXTO, and minting tokens. A long-term goal is to create a Haskell / Plutus academy which encourages educated professionals to become involved in the Cardano Community. Also, in Catalyst F9 they will be offering a translation service that will allow native Spanish speakers to write their proposals in Spanish or Portuguese and receive help from experienced translators.

Cardano is a huge global community of which the LATAM group is a large part. Not willing to be defined by the economic struggles imposed upon them, they are focused squarely on building a brighter, more equitable future. From WHITE helping children to ITZAs art gallery to LATAM Cardano’s plans to help with Catalyst translation, this is one group that is cheerfully and determinedly focused on a better world. The future is being built here and there is plenty of room for you to play a part by delegating to one of these hardworking pools, helping with translations, or just being an advocate for their goals and projects - the opportunities here are limitless.

By Traveler Jo | CardanoArmy.io

You can find Traveler Jo somewhere close to the sea. She loves Cardano, kayaking and food - not necessarily in that order. She's busy exploring the world, always in the company of her husband, tired dog and indignant felines.