The group met to hear from Ranald Macdonald, our speaker, who was representing ‘Aquabox,’ based in Wirksworth, near Matlock.The company provides safe drinking water and humanitarian aid to people affected by natural disasters, extreme weather conditions, and conflicts. Some instances where help has been needed have been in India because of flooding, Nepal after mudslides, and in the Philippines following volcanic eruptions, also thinking of those living in refugee camps, especially Syria, in recent months.
People experiencing difficult situations can go without food for some days but 3 days without water is about the limit.A company motto is ‘WE SAVE LIVES.’ ‘Aquabox’ is a charitable organisation originally set up by the Rotary Club in 1992. It is operated by a board of trustees, a part-time paid manager, a part-time paid deputy manager, and around 70+ volunteers, most of whom are retired. Some of them, mainly women who are still working, meet on a Sunday afternoon, making reusable sanitary products and wash bags. ‘Aquabox’ was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in June 2016 in recognition of their contribution to helping those in need and of the work put in by all the volunteers.
The water filters used for purification consist of 55 – 60 parts which need to be assembled, tested and packed before being shipped out in blue boxes in containers, 140 per load. The‘Aquabox’ Family Filter is capable of filtering one litre of water per minute for 10 -12 people, and has a lifetime cap of 500,000 litres,but all the water filtered each day needs to be drunk that same day. The Community Filter can provide clean water for 400 – 500 people at 6 litres per minute with a lifetime cap of 3 million litres.
In addition, the company sends out Aqua -Aid Humanitarian boxes containing a family water filter, shelter materials and tools, cooking utensils, personal hygiene items and educational items and toys. All in all, ‘Aquabox,’ is in need of extra funding from various sources, donations, fundraisers, ambassadors to spread the word and encourage partnerships, and corporate partnerships. More volunteers are also very welcome. They are always in need too of used towels and bright material for making wash bags among other items.
It was great to see also that some of the empty blue boxes were being used as make-shift cots for babies. The company prides itself on limiting the use of plastic bottles, and the plates sent out are made of bamboo.
The talk was certainly an eye-opener and very informative as well as being interesting.
Please note that the next meeting of the group will be on Wednesday 12 March instead of Wednesday 5 March, which
would clash with the Ash Wednesday Service in Church. It will be our AGM with Cheese and Wine to finish the evening. We would welcome new members to come along and meet the group at 7pm in the Parish Room. Maybe you might have heard, or know of interesting speakers that we could use when we put together our new programme for the year. We are in need as well of new committee members, so please can you think about joining us. It is not an onerous role, and we meet about 3 or 4 times a year, as and when necessary, to discuss up-coming events and, to enjoy
tea/coffee and biscuits, and a chat.
Do then feel free to speak to Trish, Marilyn J. or myself if you wish to know more.
Wendy Drake