12/06/2008 Aquabox thanks all supporters: Especially the Vale of Belvoir Ironstone Villages Family of Churches

Aquabox Committe wish to thank evrrybody who has contributed over the last six weeks or so.  It has enabled us to continue to search for ways into both Burma and China.

Our support has come in many ways, not least from the Ironstone Villages Family of Churches  in Vale of Belvoir who last night came with a cheque for £600 and packed twenty boxes with items that they had collected together.  This was prompted by the daughter of a Rotarian Brian Sollitt of Rotary Club of Melton Mowbray Belvoir, who spotted an Aquabox in her father's  home and thought what a good idea an ideal basis for a church "Cell Group" project.   Her Cell Group raised the £640 and collated the contents, all within a two weeks.  Their boxes are now on the way to Burma.

So rather like the parable of five loaves and two fishes, one lonely Aquabox grew into twenty one Aquaboxes; all within a couple of weeks!

We could do with some more miracles from whatever faith or denomination to help us to help those in need.

Heidi Edmunds and Rosemary Griffiths in tthe Cromford Depot packing their twenty Aquaboxes:-

12/06/2008 Aquaboxes flown into China

We have just securred a consignee in China and have airfreighted 200 Standards out to the China Charity Federation (CCF) for onward distribution. 

We have not sent Aqua30's this time because this is a humanitarian disaster and as such water purification is reported not to be a major priority.  Of course the water infrastruture was damaged but not irretrievably so.

12/06/2008 More Aid to Burma

We have air freighted a further 100 boxes into Burma making 140 Aqua30's and 260 Standards.  (Value of our support to Burma: about £70,000).

This second batch have gone out with Humanity First and will meet up with their medical team in Rangoon.  Humanity First have just recieved authority to send their team out into the Irrawaddy Delta.

06/06/2008 China and Burma Update

We have been endevouring to get a container load of Standards into China but are having difficulty in finding an in-country assignee to handle the distribution.  In short, there is not a water problem in China and so Aqubaxes as a "water aid" item is not seen as a priority.  But we are trying to sell the idea that we wish to give Aquaboxes to China for their humanitarian aid content to be given to the displaced families and there are plenty of those.

Burma is still an unknown quantity and, having got our 300 boxes into Vangon Airport  and handed over the appropraite ministry by the first of June, there is probably little more we can do.

We are in a position where we are looking to ship out on one or two fronts out of four: China, Burma, Lebanon (Palestinian Refugee Camp) and Africa (general).

25/05/2008 Loughborough High School Help Burma Disaster

Loughborough High School has responded to the recent Burma Cyclone disaster and Chinese earthquake appeal by working with Rotary International to fill 25 Aquaboxes. 

Each form in the school received an empty box and the girls were encouraged by the charity representatives to provide the items for each box.  All the school rose to the challenge (including the staff) by completing the boxes within just one week.

.

24/05/2008 Burma; 24th May; 300 Aquaboxes in the air to Vangon

120 Aqua30's and 180 Standard Aquaboxes finally left Cromford on Friday 23rd May on route to Vangon Airport.  They have been addressed to the Junta and the Junta have replied accepating our gift.  The boxes should be in Vangon by no later than the 1st June and hopefully earlier.  This shipment constitutes over £50,000 of aid with the airfreight included.

The Aqua30's have the capability of processing ~ 4 million litres of water (4000 tonnes) and enough for 3.3million people-days at 1.5 litres be day.  The Aquaboxes will help 180 families to start the lives again.

We will now review to see what else is possible.

You continued support is appreciated by not only us, but also very more so by the victims of these disasters.

Read More...

22/05/2008 Rangoon Port Closed Indefinitely, Back to Airfreight

We have at last secured a flight-in which leaves UK on Monday next for Bangkok and flying on to Burma at the latest 1st June or earlier if a flight becomes available. We are sending 180 of our Aqua 30 boxes which will provide water for 27000 people for 110 days and 120 of our standard Aquaboxes which will provide132000  litres of water together with essential humanitarian aid.

Due to the absence of aid agencies at Yongon (Rangoon) we have been obliged to consign the load to The Deputy Minister, The Ministry of Social Welfare and Relief. Whilst this is not preferred, at least it gets the aid to the people who desperately in need of it.

Please note that the comprehensive instructions for use of the boxes have been translated into Burmese and are attached to each of the boxes.

Fingers crossed again.

20/05/2008 Burma; Air Freight Route Abandoned, Container into Rangoon asap

After all the "nearly there" routes to be confirmed and the recent message that our flight had to be cancelled due to the Bangkok Airport warehouse was full, we have decided to send a container of Aquaboxes by sea in a 40 foot container as soon as practical. The Aquaboxes will be left on pallets for ease of onward shipment with each box and pallet labelled with a short description in Burmese of their contents and intended use.  This means that we can ship about 500 boxes this way.  They will be addressed to the Junta's recomended Minister as this is the only way in at the present

We will be looking to sending a second container into Burma or maybe into China, if thought more appropriate to do so, as soon as a second container load is availble. 

Fingers crossed on their quick distribution to those in need.

16/05/2008 Burma; Monday 19th Flight out with 300 Aquaboxes Cancelled; Warehouse Full

We were about to ship 150 Aqua30's plus 150 Standards but the warehouse in Vangon is full.  So the flight has been aborted and we have to go into "holding"  mode again. 

 We will still be attaching Instructions in Burmese  to be  to each and every individual box during the weekend in anticipation of the next window of opportunity.    We hope this is a sign that routes in will begin to open up.

Once shipped, we will need to restock the Aqua30's as fast as possible.

16/05/2008 Aquabox Update, We are awaiting a commercial flight out of Heathrow

Aquabox have had Aquaboxes available from stock from day one and one needs an in-country consignee to accept the goods.  We soon found an in-country  consignee in Burma from teh lsit of NGO's we have already worked with.  But getting a commercial flight has proved to be very difficult because very little traffic flies in Vangon and the Junta have not been co-operative.  An understatement to say the least.  We have been waiting to get flight details out of Heathrow for at least a week.

Aquabox continues to explore whatever is possible to get your boxes into Burma.

13/05/2008 URGENT CALL TO RETURN AQUABOXES

We will be airfreighting first batch of Aquaboxes into Rangoon.

We need Aquaboxes returned as soon as possible so we can follow up with container load of more boxes into Burma.

There must be a thousand or two Aquaboxes out there waiting to be addressed.  Please look to filling them with humanitarian list of items as suggested and returning them so we can help the unfortunate victims in Burma.

Route into Burma Offered

We have just heard that one of our muslim based associates will accept our shipments.  We are still looking at other routes in as a contingency.

We plan to air freight 300 Aquaboxes in immediately (100 Aqua 30's).  Followed up by as many additional loads by sea that we can muster.

07/05/2008 Aquabox Ready to ship Aquaboxes to Burma

In response the latest Nargis cyclone damage in Myarmar (the country we in the UK knew better as Burma), we, Aquabox, have immediately earmarked  ~120 Aqua30's and up to 300 Aquabox Golds/Standards for availability to be flown out to Burma-Rangoon as soon as we can find an in-country agent to help clear customs and oversee distribution.  It looks as if it could be difficult but we do have one or two irons in the fire.  We await feedback from our initial discussions.

We have ordered and additional batch of 300 off sets of Aquabox Gold components so we can accelerate the packing of Golds once we have confirmation of a route in.

After the first air freighted batch, we hope to be able to follow this up with further seaborne container load(s) of Aquaboxes for as long as it takes.

Please continue to support us, every little bit helps  .. to alleviate suffering on the front line of these major natural disasters.  It is your "Gift of Life." 

12/04/2008 CALL FOR HELP: District International Chairmen and your District Conferences

Dear District International Chairman,

AQUABOX has introduced a new box called Aquabox Gold, and you will have received details of this at the RIBI Assembly in Birmingham.   We now want to make all Clubs aware of this and would like to attend as many District Conferences as possible.   However, we do make every effort to keep our overheads low and only have one part-time administrator, therefore the Club members spend most of their time filling and despatching boxes and do not have the time to attend all the Conferences. And of course, without the continuing support from Rotarians, we cannot distribute Aquaboxes to those in need.

This is where we need your help!   Could you encourage one or more Rotarians in your District to oversee and man an AQUABOX stand at your annual Conference?   We would provide all that was necessary, i.e. AQUABOX Demonstration unit, sample of an AQUABOX GOLD, brochures, display boards etc.

  If your district can help, please contact AQUABOX through the website www.aquabox.org or call the Help Line on 01629 825178.

  Thanking you in anticipation of your support.

  Aquabox

12/04/2008 Aquabox Asks for Your Support

Aquabox   can only distribute water and humanitarian aid to those in need with your on-going support.   We need both your help and support to maintain our ability to offer this ”Gift of life” around the world.

  In the last eighteen months or so, we at Aquabox have been trying to recover from the impact of the Tsunami and reposition ourselves where the original paradigm that had proved to be so successful for the first twelve years or so, was shown to have a significant time lag in it when asked to be scaled up quickly.   In spite of this, with your help we did achieved a four fold scale up in our 2005 shipments, albeit we felt we were still left a little wanting since our philosophy relied 100% on our Standard Aquaboxes being physically filled with humanitarian aid through the goodwill of you, your friends and your community on a one-by-one basis.  

  With 20,000 boxes being distributed in 2005, this began to sap the energy of some of you, our VIP supporters; one Aquabox for every three RIBI members. So after this supreme effort, the physical filling of Standard Aquaboxes not unexpectedly waned a little in 2006.  To overcome this problem, we have introduced Aquabox   Gold whereby we offer to pack the Standard Aquaboxes in our depot in Cromford with new humanitarian aid items that we purchase direct from a number of wholesalers.   Any short term increase in demand is now under our direct control, subject to sufficient funding being in place and to there being adequate supplies being available in the pipeline to the wholesalers. We have also replaced our video by a new 13 minute DVD, updated our website, introduced our Inform ation Pack, redesigned a new pamphlet and now have banners to go with the Demonstration units.

  Aquabox is often asked to take a stand in the various RIBI District Conferences “House of Friendships.” We have had to turn a number down because it is not possible to find enough Rotary Club of Wirksworth volunteers for all 29 districts plus of course the RIBI Conference, year-in and year-out.   In order to tackle this problem, we would like to invite you, through your particular District International Committee Chairman, to man an Aquabox stand at your own District Conference on behalf of Aquabox and more especially on behalf of those in need of a gift of life.     

Read More...

12/04/2008 New Milestone: 100% Acceptance of Standard Aquaboxes: No rejects

The weekly returns of Aquaboxes this morning was a "first" in that all 31 of the boxes were correctly packed, within their polythene packing bags, included a bucket, largely followed the new recomemended packing list and weighed in at around 25kgs, the top weight.

This is a genuine first.  We normally have a need to reject 5% to 10% with up to 50% on a really bad day when schools return them at the end of term/end of year, all of which need repacking before being sent out. 

This means that we can concentrate on making up Aquabox Golds this week.

Thanks to all you who have taken note of our gentle evolution towards more general purpose humanitarian items and a call for less clothes (in-fill only).

Read More...

12/04/2008 New Web Site has 40,000 hits in its first year

Our "new" Aquabox Website went live in March of 2007.  Within this first year, just over 40,000 hits were recorded.  Thank you all for keeping informed of our progress via our website.

Aquabox Team; Thanks All Our Supporters

AQUABOX would like to thank RIBI for their continued support.   Without your support, Aquabox would not be able to even begin to reach those most in need of our help.

  Since the hectic days of 2005 following the Tsunami, we have had to retrench and regroup in more ways than one.   Not least because, after nine years of managing the Aquabox project, Rtn. Frank Lund finally handed over the reins to others just a tad younger.  

  One of the more obvious changes has been the updating of the web site.   We now have all modern facilities, in particular, on-line editing and updating of our shipments. The site has had just over 40,000 hits in the first year of going live which hopefully indicates the level of interest and support we have.

  We updated the brochure so that we now have an Information Pack with six flyers. The new Information Pack may look a little “posh” for Aquabox but it does have all the information you need and print run costs are surprisingly low. There is also a single sheet pamphlet plus a new, 13 minute video.   The video is available at a nominal charge.   Please take on board that we really do need to both regularly and formally “sell” a few items so that we can legitimately reclaim VAT on all our outgoings.   With this in mind, we also have “iron-on” badges for sweat shirts etc. at a very reasonable cost!

Read More...

21/03/2008 Aquabox Number 70,000 on route to help Albanian Blast Victims

The Rotary Club of Ravenshead recently packed Aquabox Standard box number 70,000.  This box was packed by Bob Jackson and his team and will be  driven in convoy by Nottingham Police Aid team to to Albania to help those who suffered the effects of the recent ammunition dump explosion where several people were killed and 500 or so families were made homeless.

The Nottingham Police Aid group send a team out to a Albania every year and had not planned to request any Aquboxes this year.  Under the new circumstances, David Scott of Notts Police Aid said that he felt that it would be most appropriate to send Aquaboxes after all to help those in the Tirania District who had lost their homes in the explosion.

"One hundred and sixty people are feared dead or injured after a series of large explosions at an army base on the outskirts of Tirana, the capital of Albania, officials have said.

People suffering with burns, concussions and broken limbs were rushed to local hospitals following the blasts, believed to have begun while teams were dismantling munitions at a store base. Many of the injuries were a result of flying glass or shrapnel.

A Reuters cameraman who quickly arrived at the scene described people trying to escape: "Terrified people are leaving the area on foot along the highway, women and children. Cars with broken windows have been abandoned on the highway."

The force of the explosion was so strong that it was felt at the seaside resort of Durres, 20km away. People living in the nearby village of Gerdec took shelter in concrete bunkers while others fled to the hills."

(Further story and pictures to come as Aquabox No 70,000 travels to Albania)

18/03/2008 Aquabox Wins Oscar for "Outstanding Contribution to Rotary 2007-2008"

The Rotary Club of Long Eaton Dawnbreakers instigated an Oscars Award ceremony at their First Charter Anniversary  on Saturday 16th February.

After the introductory series of Oscars covering such awards as the "Best Dressed Female to Impress Male at Charter " and "Best Dressed Male to Impress Female at Charter," the sixth and final Oscar was awarded to AQUABOX and the Rotary Club of Wirksworth for "Outstanding Contribution to Rotary 2007/2008."  

David Haspel of the Rotary Club of Wirksworth recieved the award on behalf of everybody involved and more especially, on behalf of all our supporters without whose support there would be no Aquaboxes to distribute to those in a very real need of both a "gift of water" as well as humanitarian aid.  (Photo awaited). 

28/02/2008 Bretby Rotarians take Aquaboxes into Local School

Bob and Pauline Wood of Bretby Rotary visited the Aquabox depot and then took two boxes into their local school.

The initial pictures show Aquabox Golds packing area and Aquabox depot stocks.

The pictures below Bob and Pauline  presenting two Aquabox to the school children

18/02/2008 Shipments Pass 400,000,000 litres of Potentially Potable Water

The latest batch of 80 Aquaboxes to Angola, via "Feed the Children" takes us past the next 100,000,000 litres benchmark of  400,000,000 litres of potable water,  400,000 tonnes of drinking water, or 0.4 of a cubic kilometer (400m x 100m x 1000m).

We have also just processed Standard Aquabox Number 70,000.  The story of its journey is  on its way.

25/01/2008 Belper School Students Support Aquabox

Belper School (Derbyshire) has supported our Aquabox project for several years now by sponsoring and filling standard boxes.

The photo shows, Rotarians David Harris And Peter James of Duffield and Belper Rotary Club who gave this years presentation to a group of supporting children.

21/01/2008 Aquaboxes to Malawi Flood Victims

Malawians have already been
suffering from severe drought

Flash floods in southern Malawi have displaced more than 40,000 people and killed one person when his car was washed away by the rising waters.

Houses, livestock and crops of farming families had been swept away in the Lower Shire Valley, a local district commissioner said.

Some 5m Malawians are already facing food shortages after the worst drought in more than a decade. The floods have cut off communication with other villages in the area due to poor roads raising fears that the number of affected people could be much higher, our correspondent says.

Malawi's Meteorological Department has warned that people living in low-lying areas throughout Malawi should brace for more flooding because heavy rains will continue to fall in the coming weeks.

18/01/2008 Aquaboxes Distributed in Indonesia

On Decemeber 10th, the Langsa district of Northern Sumatra suffered suffered from  major coastal erosion due to exceptionally high tides combined with strong winds and roigh seas. 83 families and 700 people were displaced.  30 Aquaboxes were distributed out of Medan by the Leuser International Foundation (LIF).  On December 5th, flooding temporarily displaced more than 20 villages (1000's of people) in Eastern Aceh. When the flooding had subsided sufficiently, LIF sent a further 20 Aquaboxes together with food and medical supplies.

LIF distrbuted over 7000 boxes in the year of the Tsunami in and around Aceh.  The sent Aquaboxes to the victims of the Nias Island earthquake and the earthquake in Jogaharta on Java that resulting in major mud slides.  They also sent Aquaboxes to flood victims in Aceh  district last year.

LIF hold stocks of Aquaboxes in Medan on our behalf and they in turn have distributed them around the Northern half of the Island (Aceh distrct) as well as to neigbouring islands and as far as Java.

We are looking to topping up their main stockpilke in Medan, Northern Sumatra.

Pictures of the recent floods and stockpile in Medan.

LIF Report January 2008

17/01/2008 Sister Abbott from Romania thanks to West Ashfield Inner Wheel Members

We recieved this "Thank you" message through Phil Shorthouse of Blythewood Care:-

"On behalf of the young people who live at Casa Lumina in Comanesti, Romania I should be grateful if you would pass on much-appreciated thanks for the 'Aquabox' that had been donated by the Inner Wheel Club of West Ashfield and was delivered to us via Blythswood Care following severe flooding in July 2005.  Apologies for the length of time it has taken to write, but I have only just noticed the Inner Wheel West Ashfield label on the side of the box today.

As a result of those awful floods in the town, 58 houses dissappeared and 85 were destroyed.  The entire town was without mains water for three weeks and we had to collect supplies from a natural spring some miles away.  If you'd like to get in touch with me, I'd be happy to provide you with more details about the residential home in which I am Care Manager for the 23 very special, Special Needs previously abandoned youngsters who live here.

By the way, the Aquabox is still very much a useful piece of equipment here - we use it for storage of food supplies.

Many thanks and God Bless,    Sister Elizebeth Abott

                                               Casa Lumina, Comanesti, Romania 

                                                17-Jan-2008

03/01/2008 A Few Pictures; Bangladesh and the Solomon Islands

The following picture shows Aquaboxes being shipped upriver in  Bangladesh

Boxes on route to Gizo, re Solomon Island Tsunami

Read More...

03/01/2008 TRAFALGAR SCHOOL'S CHRISTMAS BOXES HELP TO SAVE LIVES

  Pupils of Downton's Trafalgar School have combined two projects by making their efforts to support the Salisbury Rotary Club's emergency Aquabox scheme into part of their Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme.

Aquaboxes provide clean filtered water for the victims of natural disasters such as earthquakes.  Besides water-purification filters, the boxes also contain other vital survival items such as cooking utensils, tools, torches an baby-clothes.  Each box is designed to support a family of four.  Having decided to support the Rotary appeal, the school council voted to donate £2000 - proceeds from the school's annual sponsored walk to the scheme.  Half was paid into Rotary's Aquabox Fund and was used to purchase four filters each capable of purifying 33000 litres of water. The rest was spent on filling Aquaboxes.

  "Filling them required a lot of effort," explained the supervising teacher Beverley Pugh.  "The pupils had to work from a limited budget and negotiate with local stores to purchase the items needed.  When they knew it was for charity, some of the shops gave very generous discounts.  So making this support part of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme meant we met the criteria of  improving organisational and budgeting skills whilst at the same time  helping people."

  "I think it has been a marvellous effort by Trafalgar," said Salisbury Rotary Club International committee chairman Frances Wain.  "We now have five local schools supporting the Aquabox scheme, and next year I hope even more will join in.  And it is not just a token effort.  We know where each box is sent, and we know that they really do help to save lives."  

    Photo shows:  Trafalgar School pupils filling Rotary Aquaboxes.  

 Back row:   Craig Ball, Jess Lawrence,  Leanne Street,  Millie Byrne, Kerry Middleton, Meggie Shipton.

Front: row :   Caelin Reid,  Jade Connolly,  Ellie Greenway,  Ben James,  Sophie Middleton and Amy Shipton.

Photo arranged by school, all parental permissions obtained, all spelling checked and correct (including Meggie).     From Chris Wain, Rotary Club of Salisbury

12/12/2007 More Aquaboxes on route to Bangladesh

Humanity First's co-ordinator has just returned from Bangladesh and they have agreed to co-ordinate and oversee the distribution of a further 250 Standard Aquaboxes.  The shipment left Cromford on Tuesday 18th December; interim destination London Heathrow.

12/12/2007 District 1110 Fund 100 Aqua Golds for Bangladesh

District 1110, encompassing 75 Rotary Clubs, covering most of Hampshire, East Dorset, South Wiltshire, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands, Have kindly sent a cheque for £8,000 to cover the cost of 100 Aqua Golds.

Thank you District 1110.  They will be on route very shortly, see the posting above.

05/12/2007 Robert Smyth School, Market Harborough, chooses Aquabox as their 2007 Christmas Charity

The Robert Smyth School has chosen Aquabox as their Christmas Charity this year with a target of 60 boxes.  One from each Tutor Group.

They have been using sponsored silences (up to  five days!); probably pretty difficult for some.  And some of the boys the boys are being sponsored for having having their legs waxed.  See www.robertsmyth.leics.sch.uk/?cat=21

They have raised £1333 and completed the packing six boxes as of the 5th December.

Congratulations and we wish you a lots of fun while raising funds to support us in our endeavors. 

Thanks every one of you for being silent, being made hairless amongst very many other activities. 

Robert Smyth School Charity Notes

01/12/2007 Rotary Club of Canton , OHIO, Fund Aqua30 for Banladesh

The Rotary Club of Canton, OHIO, has kindly ordered an Aqua30 for Bangladesh  They paid by Pay Pal an ordered via the web . 

Thank you Canton Rotarians.

Aquabox Committee

20/11/2007 Aquaboxes On Route To Bangladesh

It has just been agreed to airfreight 200 Standard Aquaboxes (a mixture of Standards and Aquabox Golds) and 30 Aqua30's out this weekend to Dakar in support of Humanity First's medical team. ( www.humanityfirst.org.uk)

We supported Humanity First when they sent in their Medical Teams into Kashmir and we are doing the same again.  The boxes will be flown out of Heathrow on November 24th and will meet up with their medical team who are flying out on the day before on November 23rd.

The medical team will be using the Aqua30's in support of their field hospital and the team will also oversee the distribution of the Standards in the area surrounding their field hospital.

Since the boxes are being air freighted out, this will cost us about £25/box over and above our normal costs.  If you would like to support this initiative, then some support towards the extra cost of air freighting the boxes out to Bangladesh would be greatly appreciated.

04/11/2007 St Edwards and Orchard Schools, Castle Donnington, together with Diesworth and Long Whatton Schools help with Aquaboxes

Castle Donnington Rotary Club have been helped by St Edwards, Orchard, Diesworth and Long Whatton schools to fill four Aquaboxes.  These boxes were part of the shipment that has been sent by CART out to Africa and India.

05/10/2007 CART Sends Aquaboxes to Central African Flood Area

Christian African Relief Trust are sending 400 Standards and 50 Aqua30's out to help relieve the the effects of the recent floods across Central Africa.  The boxes are likley to end up in Uganda and/or Kenya.

As a result of tthe Aquabox Demonstration kit looking rather lonely next to the RIBI "Rotary Roadshow" trailer at the Bakewell Show this Summer (what summer you may say with some justification!).  We now have two "new" pull-up banners and a "new" table top banner specifically designed to address the more professional presentation aspects of our Demonstration Kits out in the field. 

These will be on view at the forthcoming District 1220 District Conference in Southport in October 2007 together with our standard Demonstration Kit, "new" Aquabox Gold, "new" Information Pack, "new" Pamphlet and "new" (13 minute) Aquabox DVD.

New Aquabox Pamphlet Available

We have just printed off the first batch new Aquabox Pamphlets ( A4 folded x3).  This has been designed by Neil Mudford of the Rotary Club of Mansfield and addresses the hands-on application side on our product.  He has also developed an additional PowerPoint presentation for use at conferences.  Those of you attending District 1220 Conference in Southport (October 2007) should be able to see both products of his endevours.

More Aquabox Demonstration Kits Available

We have just built our twentieth Aquabox Demostration kit.  We offer the units out on loan at £18 to cover the ParecelForce costs or they are available for sale at a very nominal  cost £120 each.  We can also offer battery powered packs for use where no mains power is available.

We have had over 50 calls for our Aquabox Demonstration Kits in the last two years and have "sold" eight units over the same period.

Please feel free to borrow/buy a demonstartion kit to support your fund raising activities. 

28/09/2007 Aquabox Web Site passes its second 10,000 hits milestone in just three months

The new Aquabox web site has continued to be accessed at an ever increasing rate.  It took just under six months to reach the "first" 10,000 hits since we launched the new web site back in January 2007.  It has taken just under three months reach "second" 10,000 hits milestone. And we thank you all for your interest in our activities.

I think we can reasonably assume that people are finding our new site helpful and informative.  Should you have any comments on it, please feel free to e-mail us through the website.

25/07/2007 Tewkesbury Floods; Rotary Clubs of Malvern and Gloucester to Co-ordinate Aquabox Distribution

We had a call from the President of the Rotary Club of Malvern checking the prospect of them receiving a number of Aquaboxes. They are this morning (25-07-07) collecting 30 boxes each with a filter and tablet set to produce 1100 litres of purified water for use in the more rural areas where distribution of bottled water may not be readily available.

Gloucester Rotary Club have brought forward the collection of their annual 100 Standard boxes that they will use locally in the short term and then return to Cromford filed with humanitarian aid as usual.

These boxes will, of course, be our help and gift from the Aquabox Project.

21/07/2007 Aquabox Responds to RIBI's -Rotary Today- letter from Gerry Needham, North Bournemouth.

Dear Sir/Madam

I read the letter from Gerry Needham (North Bournemouth R/C) in June 2007 "Rotary Today" and would like to respond on behalf of Aquabox.

First of all, we greatly appreciate the  R/C of North Bournemouth's regular support and yes, they are one of our more consistent and substantial supporters at 130 boxes per year.  In response to the December 2004 Tsunami, we shipped 20,000 boxes in 2005 and sustained shipping about 8000 in 2006 and are heading for a further 8000 in 2008.  This compares to a typical 3,500 to 5,000 Aquaboxes being shipped per year before the Tsunami.

Read More...

19/07/2007 Inner Wheel District 26 Packed 55 Standard Aquaboxes in 2006-2007

To "Aquabox Web Editor"

I thought you might like to know the final number of boxes from Inner Wheel District 26. We managed 55 boxes, which was pretty good when you realise that we also did 20 Shelterboxes. I am sure this will have a knock-on effect, and certainly more people outside Rotary/Inner Wheel know about it than before.

Best wishes

Sandra Maizels Past President; IW Distrct 26

We hope that you will consider this to be a new District 26 benchmark target for 2007-2008 Aquaboxes! (Web Editor)

Bemrose Community School (Derby) Visits Cromford to Deliver 18 Aquaboxes

At Bemrose Community School in Derby , back in January 2007 we were introduced to the Aquabox scheme.   Each of the 28 forms in the school then went off to plan a way to raise enough money to buy a supply of the lifesaving boxes.

Back in form rooms students researched the need for clean water and discussed fundraising ideas. Students were then encouraged to evaluate their ideas and choose the most appropriate methods of fundraising.

  Activities ranged from sponsored silences, film showings, raffles and craft stalls to a football tournament and a talent show.   

By Easter students had raised £1300 and bought 18 Aquaboxes.

Toni Barson, Citizenship Leader, brought the full boxes back on 10th July and was shown around the depot with two of the students.  Thank you for all your efforts, I know they will all be very greatly appreciated by the refugees in Sierra Leone.

Bemrose School Report

13/07/2007 First 500 Aquabox Golds Packed.

The first 500 of the new Aquabox Golds have been packed. The last 100-200 or so will be on route to Sierra Leone when KDDA picks up a full load at the end of July 2007.  They will be used to support the many thousands of families held in refugee camps in Sierra Leone. (Over 5,000,000 people in all).

                                           Aquabox Gold Packing in Cromford Depot

13/07/2007 Gizo (Solomon Islands) Tsunami: Aquaboxes arrive in Honiara

We have finally had a report back that our 400 Aquaboxes sent by air via DHL to Brisbane and onwards to Honiara under the auspices of District 9600 WCS Committee.  They arrived in June and 200 boxes have been disributed in Munda, Gizo and Choiseul via the Rotary Network. The last 200 are awaiting further distribution by small boat and canoes as this is the only affordable transport available to serve the outlying islands.

Pictures are awaited

10/06/2007 "New" Aquabox Web site passes first 10,000 hits inside six months

The "New" Aquabox web site continues to go from strength to strength with ever increasing numbers of visitors with over 10,000 hits since its new launch back in January 2007. 

The number of hits is now running at over 2000 "hits" per month.

28/05/2007 AQUABOX Launches new On-Line ordering service based on PayPal

AQUABOX have launched a new service for our supporters.  It is now possible to  place your orders for the AQUABOX product options or send your donations using the new on-line order form supported by the well-proven and secure "PayPal" payment service.

Supporters can of course still support us by downloading an order form from the web site and posting it back to us in the usual way.

We hope you will take advantage of this new quick and simple method of supporting us.  We look forward to recieving feedback on the value of this this new service and we will be monitoring your use of this new service with interest.

First Aquabox Gold Order Recieved 24/05/07

Ann Maxted of Sidcup Inner Wheel has the honour of ordering the first Aquabox Gold.

Thank you Ann.

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16/05/2007 Aquabox Launches AQUABOX GOLD

A new Aquabox "Information Pack" is now available that supplements the old Aquabox Brochure.  This has given us the opportunity to launch :- 

  AQUABOX GOLD

  a new product based on Cromford based Aquabox Teams packing Standard Aquaboxes with new, bought-in components.  It also includes a second filter pack so extending the life of a box for a family of four from four months to eight months.

We have priced it at £80.00

See new downloadable order form attached

The contents major on hygiene, cooking and eating utensils, general support and  survival equipment and is more comprehensive than the standard recommended list.  The Aquabox  GOLD  weighs in at 25kg; the recommended maximum for one person to lift. 

New AQUABOX Information Pack; See Flyer No 3 AQUABOX GOLD
NEW ORDER FORM

20/05/2007 AQUABOX GOLD ARRIVES

                      AQUABOX GOLD

28/05/2007 AQUABOX LAUNCHES "PayPal"

Our supporters can now support AQUABOX directly by either donating or ordering Aquabox products directly on-line using the well proven and secure "PayPal" method of payment and the new web-based order form.  Supporters can of course still download order forms of the site and post their support direct to AQUABOX.

We hope that this new service will make it much easier for both Individuals and Groups to support us. 

We await your response to this new service with interest.

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22/04/2007 Aquabox Supporters and Teams have shipped 22.6 m litres of water aid in 4 months.

Over the last four months, Aquabox supporters and teams have enabled 2461 Standards and 601 Aqua30's to be shipped into ten difference disaster zones.  The combined water purification capacity of the two types of boxes give the victims in the ten disasters zones an ability to generate 22.6 million litres of drinking water (22,600 tonnes).  The 2561 Standard Aquaboxes also contained roughly 37 tonnes of humanitarian items in addition to the usual water aid.

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22/04/2007 Australian Ambassador hands over the 200 Phillippine Typhoon Aquaboxes in Bicol

The 200 Aquaboxes that we flew out to the Philippines typhoon victims in Bicol were handed over this weekend by the Australian Ambassador. The Aquaboxes were flown out by DHL and handed over to the local Philippine Red Cross Association.  The handover has been timed to coincide with the hand over of new housing for victims of the typhoon funded by the AusAID.  Mr Michael Buckley of DHL, Manila, and a son of a Wirksworth Rotarian, accompanied the Ambassador on a Philipinne Air Force service flight down to Bicol to oversee the handover of the Aquaboxes.   

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22/04/2007 Nottingham Police Convoy take 400 boxes to Albania

Nottingham Police take a convoy of trucks to Eastern Europe/Albania every year,  This year they have 400 Standard Aquaboxes on board to help the local families who survive at, or below, subsistance level.  The families typically on have access to safe drinking water for only about six weeks of the year or so.  These Aquaboxes will help the families through the difficult periods of the year when teh water is particularly contaminated plus give them some additional support with the gift of the humanitarian items.  This load contains a high percentage of Aquabox Golds, where Aquabox Golds are boxes filled by the Aquabox teams at Cromford with new, bought in, humanitarian aid items.  These are part of the initial pre-launch batch of Golds that we are working on before officially offering to supply Aquabox Golds to out donors; hopefully in the very near future.

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12/04/2007 400 Aquaboxes Flown to Brisbane in Support of Solomon Island Tsunami Victims

On April 2nd, the epicentre of sub sea earthquake in excess of 8 on the Richter Scale generated Tsunami waves that first hit land in the the remote Western islands of the Solomon Islands. A massive 5 m Tsunami wave struck the town of Gizo. (Some first hand reports quote up to 10 m heigh waves breaking inland.) About 30 people were killed and 5,000 to 10,000 of the local villagers fled to the hills. Many of the coastal villages were badly damaged and some flattened.

400 Aquaboxes have been flown out to Brisbane by DHL to Rotary District 9600's WCS Committee for foward shipment into Honiara and onwards to Gizo and the surrounding villages. The three Solomon Island Rotary clubs are also in District 9600 and the local Rotarians will be co-ordinating the final distribution of the boxes to the victims of the tsunami.

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04/03/2007 Sierra Leone; More aid in support of the Long Term Refugee Camps

The Handsworth International Mission Services (Sheffield) shipped another 616 Standard boxes and 100 aqua 30's in January 2007 in support of their mission. 

 The Sierra Leone government is slowly reestablishing its authority after the long 1991 to 2002 civil war that resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the displacement of more than 2 million people. This shipment is part of the long term contining support of the refugee camps that house about one-third of the population.

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04/03/2007 Philippines; Senator Gordon, President of Philippine Red Cross, Accepts Aquaboxes

The president of The Philippine Red Cross, Senator Gordon, accepted the 200 Aquaboxes from the British Ambasador, Hon. Peter Beckingham. 

Michael Buckley of DHL Manaila and the son of Wirskworth Rotarian John Buckley, helped to oversee the shipping, local acceptance and hand over of the two hundred Standard Aquaboxes The Philippine Red Cross who will distribute them to victims of the recent typhoons.

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28/12/2006 Aquaboxes Airfreighted to the Philippines

Aquabox have air-freighted 200 Standard Aquaboxes out to the Philippines with the help of the  DHL's UK "Aid and Relief Department" and the Philippine National Red Cross.  This is the first time such a large batch have been directly air-freighted by Aquabox.  The route was finalised with the help of the staff in the local DHL office  in Manila and the intervention of the British Ambassador in the Philippines, Hon. Peter Beckingham.

The boxes will be distributed by the Philippine National Red Cross who are the only local organisation that are able to accept aid duty free/tax exempt.

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28/12/2006 Children In Honduras Enjoy Clean Water

The Children Of Honduras Trust based in Spondon, Derby, sent 10 Aqua 30's and 10 Standard Aquaboxes out to their mission in Honduras last March.They proved a great success.  Clean drinking water is a greatly prized luxury many cannot afford. They were distributed to several schools, children's feeding centres, a children's AID clinic and a prison.   The last location may come as a surprise.  The prison in the capaital has the worst quality water in the city.  Since very little is provided by the state, prisoners rely on their wives and partners, who come with their children, to visit them in prison and re-supply with basic nececessities otherwise unavailable to them.  Those visiting usually have to travel some distance in the heat, often on foot.  They need a drink while attending prison.  One of the Aqua 30 boxes has been allocated to the visitor's area so that, at least for a while, the children do not have to suffer for the mistakes of the parents by having to drink contaminated water during their visit.

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Masai School Children Have Clean Water to Drink

In support of Bishop John Haydon's mission in the Masai district of Tanzania, Aquabox sent 120 Aqua30's plus 400 Stacked boxes plus 400 buckets in June 2006. The Norwich Eastern Daily Press raised money to help the 100 schools in the Masai district and the Local Rotarian, Philip Chubb, asked that we support the cause by sending water purification aid.

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