Hi everyone,
It's been a while since I last posted an update about this project, so I wanted to give you a status update.
As I mentioned before, I am currently developing Baruch entirely on my own. It was never my intention for this to remain a one-person project.
Over the past months I've approached several brothers here in the Netherlands to see if they would be interested in helping. Not everyone needs to be a programmer. There are many other areas where help is needed, such as communication, community management, documentation, testing, and eventually user support. Unfortunately, finding volunteers has proven to be more difficult than I expected. Everyone is naturally busy with theocratic responsibilities, family life, work, and other commitments.
I don't have investors, and I'm funding this project entirely with my own (limited) resources. Because of that, I'm not in a position to pay people for their work. It has never been my intention to turn Baruch into a commercial product. Instead, I'd like to explore whether the project can eventually be sustained through voluntary donations and community support.
I also set up a Discord server and was hoping to find someone who enjoys building and managing an online community. A community doesn't grow by itself—it requires time, energy, and consistent communication. My idea was to regularly post updates and discussions to keep people involved. I even approached several brothers from the English congregation here in Utrecht, since good written English is important for reaching an international audience, but so far I haven't been able to find anyone who is enthusiastic about taking on that role.
Some of you may also know a little about my personal circumstances. For several years now I've been unable to work because of my health. In 2018 I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer. I have Mantle Cell Lymphoma, which unfortunately is not curable. At the moment I'm taking Ibrutinib to keep the disease under control, but it doesn't always work as well as we'd hope.
The past few months have been particularly difficult. Right now I'm struggling with severe fatigue and poor concentration, which makes it very difficult to work consistently on Baruch.
I've gone through periods like this before, and my doctors expect things to improve again. I've now been working on Baruch for about two years. For me, it's much more than just a software project—it gives me purpose and something positive to focus on.
I started this topic on jwtalk back in February because I genuinely wanted input from brothers around the world. At the same time, that also makes it very visible whenever my health temporarily prevents me from making progress.
My long-term vision is that Baruch will not remain a one-person project. I hope to build a team of brothers and sisters who can continue developing and supporting it together. That will take time to organize properly.
Because of my illness, it's very possible that one day I'll have to take what we sometimes call "the underground" to the New World. If that happens, I certainly don't want a project that I've invested two years of my life in to disappear with me.
My goal is to place the software within a company called Agape Apps and, at the appropriate time, make the project open source on GitHub so that many brothers can contribute to its future development. That, too, will take time to organize these things.
For now, it's important to keep the bigger picture in mind. Because of my health, it's simply impossible for me to accurately estimate how much time I'll be able to dedicate to Baruch. As a result, I also can't honestly predict when a first beta or test version will be ready.
I hope this gives everyone a clearer picture of where the project stands today.
Agape,
Jonathan