The ongoing conflict in Myanmar is proving a difficult obstacle to getting vital aid in to the country.
Our Rotary Thailand and Burmese contacts informed us this week that aid workers are being shot at by rebel forces and the UN and its partners continue to face access restrictions, particularly those controlled by resistance groups
On a positive note, Operation Orphan collected around £5,000 worth of filters consisting of 100 family filter and 4 community filters on 8th April. The Myanmar government have requested medical staff as priority and a small team from Operation Orphan hope to obtain visas soon to allow them entry into the country along with a consignment of our filters.
Aquaboxes main consignment of filters for Myanmar, is waiting at our depot as we assess the situation along with our Rotary friends in Thailand. One option we are considering is to send an initial smaller consignment to be held in Bangkok as strategic stock. This means as soon as aid can flow safely into Myanmar our filters will be close enough for rapid despatch within a few hours.
Also, given the regular occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes in the area, holding a strategic stock of our filters in Thailand is seen by us as a major benefit. We have had this arrangement in Nepal for a number of years now with the help of the Rotary Clubs of Pokhara, Kathmandu and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
We are also exploring other avenues of logistics such as working with larger charities to help facilitate getting our life saving water filters on the ground in Myanmar where they are needed most.
Myanmar is a frustrating situation for all charities, but we have to be very mindful of the safety of all aid workers. Rest assured Aquabox are working very hard behind the scenes to facilitate the safe delivery of our filters to help those affected by the terrible earthquake on March 28th