In July 2010, Iltubula purchased their new beekeeping equipment with funds from their partners in North Carolina, the McDowell Honey Bees and the Marion County Rotary Club. They purchased 15 beehives, 1 beesuit, 1 smoker, 1 brush, 1 knife and 1 robe. They also used some of the funds to travel to a sustainable agriculture project in Molo, Kenya, where they purchased the equipment and received some training. After the new hives were transported to Oletukat, the group planned to receive additional training from the Ministry of Arid Lands.
We traveled to Oletukat in July to celebrate the arrival of the new equipment. Here's an Oletukat member holding a frame from the beehive.
The smoker to use during harvesting
The brush to gently remove the bees during harvesting
The knife to remove the honeycomb from the frame
A member in the beesuit with the new hives
After the community proudly showed us their new equipment, they told us they wanted to celebrate this momentous occasion by harvesting one of the three beehives they received during an earlier training. The whole community walked into the bush together to watch the event.
The group member wearing the beesuit went into the thicket where the hive was to harvest the bees....
...and he emerged with a bounty of golden honeycomb!
It was such a great celebration to watch all the community members gathered around, enjoying this golden harvest!
Here's a picture of Samson Dikirr, one of the Nasha Ministries officers who helped make this project a reality.
The community was very excited about the successful harvest. At the sustainable agriculture project where they purchased the beehives and equipment, they learned about a machine that could help them purify the honey, bottle it and sell it for money. They are looking forward to the next steps in this project, as they work to diversify their livelihoods and lift themselves out of poverty.
Thanks to Iltubula's sister beekeeping group the McDowell Honey Bees and the Marion Rotary Club and to Iltubula's in-country partner Nasha Ministries for making this project a success!
