Bees & the Ambassador

Almost a year ago we applied for a self help grant from the U.S. embassy in Kampala to assist in building a beekeeping training centre and to develop a beekeeping training program tailored for Ugandans.  In May of last year our grant application was approved and we received the funds to begin building the training centre.  Construction was completed in the summer of last year and we held our first beekeeping workshop in the new facility in July.

Yesterday, the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier, his wife and several embassy staff members paid us a visit to see the training centre and beekeeping workshop firsthand.

Lesster Leow, who has been in Uganda for the last 10 years training others in beekeeping, has been an integral part of the beekeeping training program here at the Timothy Centre.  We conduct a 6 day hands-on beekeeping workshop approximately every six weeks, and Lesster is our facilitator.

During the Ambassador’s visit, several workshop participants shared how the workshop had impacted them. 

   

Stan explained how he had been keeping bees for many years but had never been able to handle the aggressive African bee in such a gentle way.

 
Geoffrey, who has been working with bees since he was a young boy, shared that after taking the workshop the way he handles bees will be dramatically different.  He now understands that bees do not need to be destroyed when harvesting honey.


Verna shared that she can’t wait to get back to her apiary and teach her apiary workers what she has learned from the workshop.

We then gave our visitors a tour of the apiary.  Lesster has an amazing gift of understanding and respecting the African bee – a rare gift.  He creates a safe environment for people to approach the bees without fear.  As part of the apiary tour Lesster encouraged several of our visitors to hold a frame of wild African bees.
 
 
  Our apiary assistant, Vincent, enjoyed watching others learn about the training program.

Participants from this month’s workshop

We are very grateful for the grant and the success of the program so far.  In the short time it has been running, it has already enabled over 40 people to greatly improve their beekeeping skills.  These skills will undoubtedly benefit families and communities, particularly those struggling in poverty.