From Derbyshire to Myanmar: The Ripple Effect of Our Boxes

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Aquabox — a brilliant little charity just down the road from us here in Derbyshire, helping people all over the world access clean, safe drinking water in the wake of disaster. I shared how our community had come together over Purim to fund 2 family filter boxes – a small act of kindness with a big reach. When started, I hoped we might help someone, somewhere.

I didn’t expect that “somewhere” would come so soon.

On Friday 29th March, a powerful earthquake struck Myanmar and northern Thailand. The damage has been widespread: buildings have collapsed, families have been displaced, and access to clean water has become desperately limited. People are sleeping in makeshift shelters, cooking in the streets, and sharing whatever resources they can find. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Water sources are damaged or contaminated. It’s a truly heartbreaking situation.

In the midst of this chaos, Aquabox has stepped in.

In collaboration with Rotary Clubs in the region and their partners in Thailand, they’ve arranged the first shipment of water filters — 900 family filters and 20 larger community filters — enough to supply safe drinking water to around 18,000 people. The logistics have been tricky: flights into Myanmar are currently restricted, so the filters are travelling via Thailand before continuing by road into the disaster zone. But the work is happening, and it’s happening fast.

It’s easy to feel helpless when disasters strike on the other side of the world. The news is full of loss, and it’s overwhelming. But Aquabox reminds me that even here in our small corner of Derbyshire, we can be part of something bigger. That little family filter we bought as a community — it’s the same kind now being sent to Mandalay and Yangon. Maybe it’s already on its way. Maybe it will sit in a shelter, surrounded by children, offering something as simple and vital as clean water. Maybe our tiny gesture has found its way to people we’ll never meet, in a place we’ll never go, at a time they need it most.

It’s humbling.

So much in the world feels uncertain and heavy right now. But knowing that there are people quietly doing good — engineers designing these filters, volunteers packing them, aid workers distributing them, all with a shared goal of helping others — is a comfort.

We might be small, but we’re not powerless. And sometimes, one little idea can ripple out further than we think.