FROM THE CHAIRMAN

So, it is official. This has been thewettest summer on record, which I think most of us will have

realised, but you will be asking justwhat has this to do with our Charitythat is involved with helping groups ofpeople with their beekeeping indeveloping countries? Well it reallydoes as we receive very generousinvitations to agricultural shows andbeekeeping events around the countryto publicise our work and generateincome from the sales of various items.

This past summer has had an effecton the number of people attendingsuch events. We experienced thecurtailment of the Great YorkshireShow after the first day, when the stateof the public car parks made themunusable. Sadly, in some cases, eventswere cancelled entirely.

Nevertheless, our work for the charityhas continued to expand, with newvolunteers taking on project work andvaluable back room jobs here in the UK.Much of the day-to-day progress can befound on the Bees Abroad website,www.beesabroad.org.uk, which has

been greatly improved recently by oneof the expanding team of volunteers. It is a privilege to work with such a diverserange of dedicated people for, withouttheir input, we would never be able torespond to the expanding demand forour help requested from overseas.

Fortunately it was one dry andnearly sunny day when we held anevent in the UK where project leadersand other helpers got together. Wetalked, demonstrated and sharedknowledge on such things asidentifying available sustainablematerials and the skills within thegroups with which we work overseas.Solutions are to be found to improvisethe equipment needed and so makingour financial resources go further.

To appreciate and value thisvolunteer help, we have started torecord the hours of time that have beengiven in the past six months.Amazingly, this totals some 2500 hours, and we are very proud of how effective

we are in utilising our resources torelieve poverty in developing countriesthrough beekeeping.

We still need and appreciate all thefinancial support we receive and arecurrently running our annual raffle,which this year has prizes of two newcomplete beehives and other itemsfrom four of our Patrons, namelyMaisemore Apiaries, National BeeSupplies, BJ Sherriff International andJimmy’s Farm.

Again, I express my gratitude to allthose who so willingly andenthusiastically give of their time andskills to Bees Abroad and want to saythat it is such a privilege to be part ofthe team made of such incrediblepeople.

It is so gratifying to know that wecan improve the quality of many livesthrough beekeeping in developingcountries.

John Home, Chairman

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BEESABROAD

NEWSLETTER

BEESABROAD

NEWSLETTER ww

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No 21, October 2012

The group of Bees Abroad volunteers at the training day

Registered Charity No: 1108464

Many thanks to our Patrons forpresenting prizes for our raffle

BEES ABROAD’S YEAR

Our 2011 summary of projectshas just been published andcan be downloaded from,

www.beesabroad.org.uk This reportsthe year’s considerable achievements.Please continue to support our work sothat we can give news of even greaterprogress next year.

There are currently 14 projects withtwo more under development. They are in Cameroon, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi,Uganda, Zambia and Tanzania.Hopefully we will be able to resumeour activities in Nepal and possiblyelsewhere in Asia in the near future.

Cameroon

Brian Durk and Jo Hiscox are theproject leaders of the Akwaya project,being undertaken in conjunction withthe Food & Rural DevelopmentFoundation (FORUDEF).

A small honey fund was provided inearly 2011. 205 litres of honey werepurchased direct from local producersand transported to Buea for sale. BeesAbroad (BA) helped fund an extensionworker/trainer who has been workingwith the local beekeepers. In 2012, thispost has been fully funded and moremoney will be made available forbuying honey. Brian and Jo ran atraining course in Mamfe withassistance from Idris ‘Bee’, a veryexperienced beekeeper working in theZaria region.

While in Cameroon, Brian and Jo visitedthe former BA projects at Beruda andTombel to find both beekeeping and thecommunities were prospering.

Ghana

The aim of BA’s project here is to linkeffective NGOs in the country's fourmajor regions.

Adrucom Ghana is led by Elias Ayeebowith a membership of 325 women. Atraining centre and apiary are to beestablished in this northern region. Thefocus of the group is currently honeymarketing which has resulted in a 40%

increase in capital, enabling more honeyto be purchased and sold. BA isencouraging RLF and the ProgressiveBeekeepers’ Association in the Wenchiarea to work together. It is hoped to hold a Beekeeping Trainers’ Workshop in2013. In the Central Region, BLHMChas excelled by trebling its honey fund.Training sessions have been held in theVolta region for groups of the RoyalBees Association. It is hoped that honeybuying will increase following the EUcertification of honey from Ghana.

Kenya

John and Mary Home have beenworking with and encouraging the sixBA projects in Kenya. There has been aparticular emphasis on developingvalue-added products, made by thewomen, and the development of smallbusinesses. All the projects are locatedin the Rift Valley which has beenseriously affected by drought for threeyears. Training courses have beengiven by BA’s in-country trainer, David Njguna. David has joined the staff ofthe NGO Desert Edge and will continue to oversee the BA projects.

BA’s formal commitment to the NewNessuit project has come to an end after six years. Over 70 families in the area

now keep bees. The 30-strong women’sgroup has registered as the NelbemSelf-Help Women’s Group and ismaking value-added projects with a50% profit margin. The tree nurserycontinues to provide benefits tomembers. They have a full order bookfor honey which sells at a relativelyhigh price for Kenya.

Wings of Mercy is working in theNairobi slums. The BA project isworking with the Mutini and Konzagroups to establish whether peri-urbanvillage beekeeping can help to stop therural-to-urban drift but this is along-term project. The Mutini groupnow has 61 members with its number of hives incresaing from 10 to 46.Value-added beeswax hand creams arebeing sold successfully.

The progress of the Konza group hasbeen hampered by various problemswhich have hopefully been resolved.

At the Gucha Orphanage, the number of hives has been increased to 20 andthese are providing food and incomefor the orphans. Two 18-year-old boyshave left the orphanage, taking a hiveand beekeeping knowledge with them.This project is expected to becomeself-sufficient in the long term.

Beekeeping is being introduced at the SMART project near Kitale, to giveadditional income to 500 subsistencefarmers. Lack of funding has hampered progress with this project.

The Kerio Valley project has movedahead rapidly since receiving fundsfrom the Trevor Roberts School in

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Idris 'Bee' (right) giving training

Inspecting a hive in Ghana

Sharing skills at Nelbem

Value-added training at Konza

Making protective clothing at Mutini

London. Two independent beekeepinggroups, Chepsigot Women’s Groupand the Rochoko Group are workingwith BA which is also supporting theCheptebo Rural Development Centre(CRDC) and Chepsigot Primary School. Used protective beesuits, kindlydonated by the UK National Bee Unit,were presented to CRDC. They will be a very useful resource when the trainingapiary is established.

The Sinyati Women’s Group nearLake Baringo continues to make andsell the A-maizing beesuits. made frommaize sacks, and are now making andselling value-added creams.

Caroline Lentupuru from this groupreceived the International CampaignerAward for those working outside theUK to achieve social or environmentaljustice in their home countries. WhenCaroline visited London to receive heraward, she was able to meet two MPsinfluential in overseas developmentand stress the increased effectiveness of UK aid when given to smaller, efficientgrassroots organisations.

MalawiOver 100 beekeeping self-help groups,representing over 1000 families, areinvolved in the Nkhata Bay HoneyPackers’ Co-operative.

BA facilitated the creation of thisfarmer-owned co-operative marketingorganisation to provide an honestoutlet for beekeepers to sell their honey. The project has been so successful thatthe price of honey has risen by a factorof three since it started. In 2011, over 12tonnes of honey were sold under thetrade name 'Forest Gold'. The project

employs six full-time staff with 10field-based trainers.

The Waterloo Foundation has fundedtraining for 500 people in both 2011 and2012.

SudanPam Gregory visited North Sudan todesign and plan a beekeeping project to improve the incomes of peoples in thedesert area near Dongola. Ademonstration and training apiary willbe established and 30 people trained intree growing, apiary management andbeekeeping.

TanzaniaDavid and Margery Blower are the new project managers for the KASIWOCOproject in Moshi, Tanzania, which isintroducing beekeeping for those withspinal injuries. This project, supportedby Motivation UK, will use the localstingless bees which produce avaluable medicinal honey. Cosmeticsand medicinal products will be amongthe value-added products made.

They also evaluated the Mwanzaproject at the Muelba Association whichis for women living with HIV/AIDS.They were able to offer training andsupply copies of Pam Gregory’s BasicAfrican Beekeeping Manual.

Uganda

The EMESCO project, led by RoyDyche, was completed in 2011. Overall,40 groups have been formed andtrained, comprising 466 members,benefiting around 2500 household

members. Seedlings from five treenurseries are distributed to members.Further training will be given by 14community-based persons. Over 5000existing and new beekeepers stand tobenefit from the formation of the honeybusiness which has purchased sixtonnes of honey, worth around £15,000to the local economy.

The BISUDEF Women’s Project inHoima aims to develop modernbeekeeping with 120 women in 12groups. Initial training has been given.

At Mbale, Dave Bonner identified theOluwa Youth Activity Group as beingable to benefit from input from BA anda project is being planned. BA will beinvolved with tree planting andbeekeeping.

Zambia

The Monza project began in September2011, led by Roy Dyche. It aims toprovide two women’s co-operativeswith a sustainable income frombeekeeping and to ensure thatbeekeeping is conducted so that it doesnot damage the natural environmentand provides a benign alternative toactivities such as charcoal burning.About 150 vulnerable women areinvolved. Apiaries were established forthe two groups which were suppliedwith smokers and food gradecontainers. BA’s Ugandan partners,SRDA, have been given seed capital forhoney purchasing. This has been verysuccessful when sold under theSouthern Pride label.

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Dave Bonner presenting used beesuitsfrom the NBU to CRDC beekeepers

Building hives at Sinyati

Discussing hives at Mwanza

Forest Gold honey ready for sale

One of the groups involved at Hoima

Modelling a beesuit at Monza

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CONTACT BEES ABROADAdministrator: Veronica Brown, PO Box2058, Bristol BS35 9AF. Tel: 0117 2300231; e-mail: info@beesabroad.org.uk

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Arecent e-mail from the SinyatiWomen’s group was reallyencouraging about the

training we have been able to givethem in beekeeping and adding value to hive products

¯ We have been able to gain skills on thesustainable and easy to managebeekeeping.

¯ This has empowered us as womensince we can now own property inthis manner.

¯ We have also been able to venture in“manufacturing” of body cream.

¯ This is historic and a big milestoneachievement for rural pastoralistwomen.

¯ The proceeds we have collected fromthe sales of honey and body cream

have enabled us to support ourchildren in school fees payment.

¯ We also we use it to support an earlychildhood centre which Sinyatiestablished in 2002 to support thecommunity’s early childhoodeducation.

¯ We have also used portions of it toweed our bean project farm which weplanted. We shared the crop harvestamong the group members and otherneedy women so that we all had beanseeds for the 2012 planting season.

¯ We did not have to buy seeds which are expensive!

St James’s Church, Southam, sentsome funds to this group when theywere unfortunate to have their goatsstolen by Pokot Warriors. The women used this at the time not only for foodamong their members but they wereable to give 10% to their communityand the rest they used for beanswhich they planted. The crop theyproduced has also been shared asthey described above.

Value-added training at Sinyati

Bees Abroad Volunteers

Bees Abroad couldn’t achievewhat it does without the help ofa dedicated band of volunteers.

These volunteers are not just involvedwith our overseas projects but also helpwith tasks in the UK necessary to keepBA operating effectively.

Just a few examples would include:committee work, looking after BA’sfinances, letter writing, report writing(including producing this newsletter)and giving talks to local societies.

Of course, no report on ourvolunteers would be complete withoutmention of all those who organise andstaff the stalls at the summeragricultural shows. This is truly amammoth task which raises the profileof BA and provides much neededincome from the sale of BA products.

How much time do volunteers giveBA? Well, we are currently carrying out an exercise to record all volunteer timebut a rough estimate would be justunder 5000 hours a year – aphenomenal figure!

This doesn’t mean we have all thevolunteers we need. We are alwayslooking for new people to get involved.Even if you can only spend a few hourson one of the BA stands, we would liketo hear from you.

Everyone is welcome!

If you are interested please contactVeronica Brown (details below).

ELIAS AYEEBO

Elias Ayeebo, Director of Adrucom,based in Bolgatanga, Upper EastRegion, Ghana, passed away on 15

May 2012. He had been suffering from astomach ulcer and was due to have anoperation.

A very knowledgeable beekeeper, Eliaswas the Chairman of the GhanaBeekeepers’ Association. He spent 10months on a Beekeeping TechniciansCourse at Fairview College, Alberta,Canada, and, on his return to Ghana,successfully adapted his learning toAfrica and the African bee.

Bees Abroad had been working with Elias since 2008 on various problemsthroughout Ghana with the main emphasis on Adrucom and the Northern partsof the country. It will be difficult to replace him.

He leaves a wife, Marie, and three children, to whom we send our sincerecondolences.

Sinyati body cream