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“It is my husband who started. When I came in, I got involved in it because I have interest in doing something to raise money.”
The Life as Beekeeper
Who belongs to your family / who is living with you?
My name is Esther. I am married. In this family, we are 5, including the children.
How has beekeeping changed your life?
We have benefited from this bee keeping. It has not changed our life so much but when we sell, we get money to support the family. This year the performance was not that good. But we are thinking of increasing the hives so that we can harvest more and get more money.
How do you provide a good environment for your bees?
There surrounding is clean.
We dig around this area so there is no problem of fire or anything that can disturb them. May be animals like goats, but we also make sure goats are not tethered nearby. And also during dry season, they go to collect water from home.
They can swam the place looking for water. So, when you are washing dishes, you place the water for them. But for food, they have to look for it. We can’t give them food because we also don’t have enough.
What do trees mean to you and how can they be protected?
Trees are useful. You can see, here we have even planted orange trees. So, trees are useful for bees and other things…like firewood. Yes, these one the compound are shea nut trees. We collect the seeds to make shea nut oil.
What is the most important thing in your life?
The most important thing in my life is garden work so that I get profits from farming.
What are your biggest challenges and how do you plan to overcome them?
Poverty. That is the biggest challenge. And to alleviate that poverty, we have to work hard. That is why we have to try things like beekeeping because garden work alone is not enough. Sometimes yields are poor, so if there is no alternative, it can be hard.
What do you like to do in your free time?
During my free time we try other alternatives – may be going to cut papyrus etc, to raise some money.
Which place would you like to see once?
I don’t want to go anywhere very far. I just want to balance my life nearby here. I don’t even want to go to Kampala. You know when you go to Kampala, you get absorbed in city life.
