In May, we held a handover for our bee project in Bulawayo. This is the project where we are helping young people who are heads of family. These young people are between the ages of 14 and 17 and have complete responsibility for their younger siblings due to the death of both parents and do not have any relatives to help. Among other donations, the Church provided wood, wire, screens and paint and the kids constructed 20 beehives. They also constructed tables and benches for their classrooms and built platforms to hold the beehives. Along with the building of the hives and physical aspects of the project, they attend training classes on the care and nature of bee keeping as well as training in starting and managing a business. The leaders in the community were invited to the handover and several people from America were in attendance. The completed hives were all placed in rows for the handover and when we lifted the lids, they had baited the interior wood slats and screens with honey and sweets, so as to entice the bees to select their hives. The next step is to take the hives and place them in several fields to start the process of luring bees to their hives. They are hoping that the bees will like the look of their hives and select them for their homes and manufacturing plant. If a queen bee doesn’t select their hives within a few weeks, then there are places to purchase bees. Who knew?
