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“What motivated me to start bee keeping is……I saw it from my late Dad. My Dad used to keep hives and he would use the proceeds from sale of honey to buy goats, and sometimes he buys clothes for us. While he was doing that, I started following him as he would be making the hives etc. And then I also started making my own hives etc. After I grew up and ……. understood the project, then I had this Uncle who was called John Oguda. He was a Tutor in Mvara. One time he applied and obtained a loan to make box hive. Then he told me, as my Uncle, this is what he will for me as a heritage, so he encouraged me to work in his site because he was always away. So I started looking after his hives. I would also make my own local hives and keep in his site, as we worked together. Unfortunately, shortly after that he passed on. So that remained as my site and I have since continued with bee keeping.“
The Life as Beekeeper
Who belongs to your family / who is living with you?
In my home… let me say we are 11(actually 13). Of these, 6 are my biological children, then the other 4 are orphans of my late brother and then my elderly mothe
How has beekeeping changed your life?
The benefit I have got from bee keeping is that this time I am able to acquire some things like some animals and a few other things that help me support my children and my home.
So, bee keeping has benefited me.
How do you provide a good environment for your bees?
My bees…..as a matter of fact, I don’t give them special attention.
I don’t give them any special foods etc…they fend for themselves. The only thing I do is to make sure they are not disturbed by people or animals or predators. For instance there is water at close distance, the trees are there, when women spread cassava flour for drying, they go and pick , so they look for their own food.
What do trees mean to you and how can they be protected?
The reason those trees of mine are very important to me is for the bee keeping. Secondly, I get firewood from there. Only the dry ones, not cutting them anyhow. So they are very important to me.
….taking care of them……I don’t want anyone to touch them. I don’t want anyone to touch them…., no. Those in my site, I don’t want to see someone in there with a panga. That is how I take care of them
What is the most important thing in your life?
The most important thing in my life is to try to see that my future and that of my children should be good. Yeah.
What are your biggest challenges and how do you plan to overcome them?
My biggest challenge in life is that I don’t have enough capital to expand this work. The capital is not enough.
How I plan to overcome this challenge is that whatever little I get, I invest in the project but it is not enough
What do you like to do in your free time?
In my free time I dig, and I also learnt elementary carpentry, so I do some small jobs on house repairs, making cupboards, small tables etc to earn some money.
Which place would you like to see once?
…haaaa…………, I would want to reach a place where you have no problems, so you just stay peacefully.
