TC - Beekeeping: Japanese Visitor

  For the past few weeks we’ve had two of our workers preparing the grounds of our apiary for upcoming beekeeping training sessions to be held in July.

We were recently pleasantly surprised by a visitor from Japan who is looking to  purchase honey from Uganda for the Japanese market.  She found out about the beekeeping project at the Timothy Centre through Lesster Leow’s website, www.ugandahoney.com .

Through our partnership with Lesster, it is hoped that enough honey will eventually be collected in the Masaka area to help fill market demands in other countries like Japan.

Hives are being inspected by Lesster and two of our staff.

An active hive

Teacher Training

Each school holiday break, we have a staff development week at Kibaale Community Centre, one of our Pacific Academy Outreach Society projects here in Uganda. On Wednesday this week two of our school administrators, Eleazar (secondary school deputy) and Allen (primary school headmistress) led the staff through a workshop on teamwork, which was very well received. Also, staff members were briefed by the director about the new administrative structure for the centre that will be implemented in the next couple of months. We have been preparing the Ugandan administrators to take more responsibility for leadership at the centre and in the schools. We are pleased that Peter, the principal headteacher, will become the new centre director in July.

Thursday was the day for the teacher professional development workshops. These were all facilitated by our own Ugandan school administrators and this is very rewarding to see. Years ago when we began these professional development workshops, most of them were facilitated by our Canadian volunteer staff members. Arleen has been heavily involved in the teacher development programs, as the Director of Education. However, now that others are showing the desire and ability to lead in these areas, Arleen's role is much more of an advisory and supportive one.

On Thursday Arleen assisted Eva, the head of the nursery school, with her workshops--it was great to see Eva handle it very effectively. This is Eva's first year as head of the nursery school, but she is learning quickly and is very eager to use her skills

In order to encourage our nursery teachers about the importance of their work, we invited two former nursery students who have graduated and are now attending teachers' college and university. Annet and Boniface shared with the teachers about their experiences as young students in nursery class and the impact their teachers had on them, both spiritually and academically.

The Blessing of Visitors and Rain

In many parts of Africa the coming of rains when visitors arrive is considered a sign of great blessing. Visitors are really valued and those who “bring rain with them” are especially appreciated. We have had a lot of visitors this past month...and a lot of rain!

We have been enjoying a two week visit with Ken and Nicky Williams, who pastor a church in England that has supported the work of Kibaale clinic since their daughter, Ceri, first started the clinic in 1998. Ken and Nicky brought some donated equipment for the clinic lab and are teaching some Bible training courses for local pastors at a village church near the Timothy Centre. We have had the pleasure of hosting them in one of our guest house units. They are a great encouragement to us personally and to the local pastors.

In April we had visitors from Pacific Academy—Ken Drisner, our new director of outreach and service, and Lorne Wenzel, the new head of school, along with Ray and Pat Sutton with us for a week. Ken had served in Kibaale Community Secondary School along with his wife, Carina, from 1996 to 2000 so he received a very warm welcome when he visited Kibaale again on this trip. It was exciting to introduce Lorne to the work of Pacific Academy both in Kibaale Community Centre and at the Timothy Centre.

This weekend we also had Maurice and Maureen Potter with their young son, Jordan, visiting from Pan African Christian University in Nairobi. It is great to hear about the work of others in East Africa and to share our vision of the Timothy Centre. As we network and share ideas and experiences, God enriches us all.

Earthmovers

In the last few months tons of soil and rocks have been moved from place to place on the Timothy Centre site as building construction has gone ahead and landscaping is taking shape. Much of this has been done by hand as the workers have shoveled and 'wheelbarrowed' soil all over the place. Sometimes it reminds us of ants busily carrying little bits at a time until everything is taken to its destination.


It is hard work in the hot equatorial sun, and the men sometimes meet extra challenges like the odd snake hiding in a bush or in a hole.















This black mamba was found around one of the palm trees where the men were working one day and it was flushed out with a bit of kerosene which eventually killed it. We pray regularly for the health and safety of our workers.
In spite of the hard work, the men are happy to have regular employment, as jobs are hard to find in rural areas.

Some of the earthmoving is done by machine. Paul, our building supervisor, rents a bulldozer for a few days at a time to do major work for building excavations and road making. This is the foundation site being prepared for the new beekeeping training shelter that will be built with funds from of a U.S. Embassy grant for community development.

Light a Candle in the Darkness

What is wrong with this picture?










(You can't always believe everything you read around here!)

Construction begins - Beekeeping Training Centre

It was an exciting day at the Timothy Centre – the long anticipated work on the beekeeping training centre began.  Just over a month ago we received funds from a US grant we had applied for, to construct a bee keeping training shelter and a honey collection and refinery building.

 

 

We had already fenced off an area on the property to house the apiary, and with the help of Lester Leow, ten hives have been transferred to the site.

All of the hives are thriving with active colonies.

The apiary will contain a variety of hives including the top bar, langstroth, and traditional hives.  The apiary will serve to provide ‘on hands’ training for community members.

Lesster will  play a key part in helping to training the local community in beekeeping.  We are hoping to begin our first training session in July in the newly constructed training shelter.

Local subsistence farmers in the area will benefit greatly from this training, enabling them to learn how to safely handle the African bee, produce first quality honey,  and thereby assist them to increase their level of income.

Planting

The grounds of the Timothy Centre are really starting to take shape with the planting of a truck full of new flowers , shrubs and tree seedlings from the nurseries in Kampala. We also have been collecting plant cuttings from various places we have visited and from a very generous neighbour, Ali, who has been cultivating a large orchard and gardens very near the Timothy Centre.

Uganda is blessed with wonderful growing conditions for all sorts of tropical plants and we have had ideal weather this week for planting with light rains and cool days. Some sun to top it off in the late afternoons has been perfect!

Karl and his crew of local men who are working on the landscaping have worked very hard to beautify the site... a huge task considering it was nearly 50 acres of bush, farmland and wetland when we took possession. The guest house compound will be a lovely site for visitors to relax and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.

The grounds of the Timothy Girls’ College, where building construction is going ahead full steam now, will be the next task for the landscapers.

 

Values Integration Workshops

In January last year Arleen met Angela, an amazing lady who is working with the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity. This department of the office of the President was established several years ago as a means of promoting integrity in government and society in general, and eliminating corruption that has plagued the country. Arleen 'happened' to meet Angela at an education workshop in Kampala that focused on training tutors from teacher training colleges in the government's new primary school curriculum.

Angela was representing the office of the President at this workshop and expressed deep concern that positive values were not being integrated into the teaching of the new curriculum. Arleen shared with her the methods we have been using in our Kibaale Community Schools in Rakai District to integrate biblical values into the academic content in all subject areas. She immediately invited us to participate in a series of workshops she was planning at teacher training colleges throughout the country. Peter, our principal headteacher of Kibaale Community Schools, and Arleen began to work on preparing material to present to these colleges.

When funding from the government was finally available to allow the workshops to begin, Peter traveled to western Uganda in February this year and facilitated two workshops. The response was very encouraging, and the Directorate for Ethics and Integrity were so appreciative for his input that they asked him to be the main presenter for the remainder of the workshops to be held. Just last week (April 29 and 30) Peter conducted two more workshops as Bushenyi Primary Teachers' College and St. George's Primary Teachers' College in Ibanda. Arleen was able to join him and observe his presentations and assist with the facilitation. God has opened many doors for us to make a postive impact on the education system in Uganda and this has been one of those amazing opportunities to share what has been happening in Kibaale Community Schools as we have relied on God to give creativity and insight into His heart for educating children.