Background of Project

On November 13th, 2014, three members the Hadza people hobbled down to the podium at the First Symposium on African Beekeeping held in Arusha, Tanzania. Someone, probably Dr Kone who who has taken them under his proberbial wing, had dressed them up in western attire, but they looked uncomfortable in their suit jackets and ties, and still had brightly coloured tribal garb under the jacket and traditional headgear, so they looked a little like scarecrows with suit jackets and ties.  One of them had a pronounced limp. They spoke briefly at the podium, and their words, translated from their local language over our earpieces, weren't lengthy and eloquent, they weren't experienced public speakers, but they got right to the point.

 

"Someone, please help us!  We are very poor.  We have beehives, but we need training.  We beg someone to please come and help us."

 

After just these few sentences they began hobbling back to their seat.

 

Wikipedia describes the Hadza people as "among the last hunter-gatherers of the world."  According to Dr Kone, 150 hives have been given to them, but no accompanying training.  As traditionally they only practiced honey-hunting and not even traditional hanging hive beekeeping, they really have no idea how to use these hives.  Proper training can enable them to put these hives to good use as a continuous and sustainable source of income which they could even expand.

 

Touched by their story, I resolved to commit to helping them even if I wasn't able to gather enough funding to completely cover my expenses.  In fact, the idea to create Bee Aid International came after, as I as sort of a framework that emerged from thinking about helping them.

 

 

The Project

The proposed project is for Kris Fricke to travel to the location of the Hadza people and their hives and spend two-to-three weeks training them. At that time plans may be made for a second visit a few months down the line to help them troubleshoot.  Transportation will be a significant cost, if we somehow end up with more than enough funding I'll try to tack another project on back-to-back to save airfare. In country we'll need to hire a vehicle and driver, an interpreter, as well as lodging. We have a friend who runs a safari company in-country whom we can probably get a good rate for a vehicle and driver from, as well as expert advice on the logistics of in country travel, and camping supplies if necessary.