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Bees for Africa
One of the many challenges that face schools and community groups in Zambia is that of earning some money. Schools have few resources and no money for buying extras. Some schools suffer from being in an area where trees are cut down for charcoal. Families move on when there are no more suitable trees.
We have identified a few schools that are interested in keeping bees in order to teach children how to do this and to provide a small income.
In addition, a group of widows, registered as the Daughters of Naomi, want to keep bees. This will be a way of getting funds with which to support older and infirm widows who are not able to earn money themselves.
Help is at hand
We are meeting up with a beekeeper in Monze in a couple of weeks’ time. He will tell us what is needed to make a hive with simple local materials. We also hope he may be willing to travel to Siavonga to give training to those who are interested.
This morning I met with the owner of Lake Kariba Inns who is a very enthusiastic beekeeper. We arranged to visit her on Sunday afternoon to get more information about the equipment she uses and learn from her experience. She has offered to help with a cleanroom when it is time to extract the honey from the comb.
Resources
These are a few of the many online resources about beekeeping: