Poverty Stricken Uganda Kids Learn Bee-Keeping Skills

Coventry Telegraph (UK), 12/28/2009

Poverty stricken children in Uganda are learning bee-keeping skills to help support themselves, thanks to a Warwickshire couple.

Dave Bonner and Cath Tompsett, of Stretton on Dunsmore, visited the Soroti region of the country with Coventry charity Global Care.

The couple are both members of the British Beekeeping Association and were able to use their expertise to train staff at a centre run by the charity, who will pass their new skills to the young people supported by Global Care.

Ten new hives have been provided which will mean extra income for poor families, better nutrients for malnourished children, and eventually, a vocational training opportunity for young people supported by Global Care.

Dave, 57, a bee inspector for Leicestershire and Rutland, said: “The idea is to give the children another skill and another source of income.

If people can get a hive with the correct baiting, which introduces a smell within it to attract the bees, then it is easy to keep them.

“Bees are plentiful in Uganda. The land is lush and green and there is lots of forage.

“A hive built locally only costs about £20 but when the average worker there is only being paid about 30p a day, which is £90 a year, then they simply can’t afford to do it…