Official Birth of The 1st Beekeeping Training School in Uganda……………………

10 years of struggle, ups and downs, zillions of stings and understanding Uganda’s apiculture had seen us establishing the first school for beekeepers in Uganda. The long awaited beekeeping school had finally arrived! Home base is at TIMOTHY CENTRE, MASAKA.

Our school’s motto – “BEST” program – “BRINGING ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY TOGETHER”, defined our direction and the purpose of the setup of this school. We had seen too many bee farmers keeping bees without sparing a thought for these insects. Most bee farmers in Uganda are mainly honey hunters because not much emphasis were put on the well being of these bees. The long term detrimental effect of the decline of the bee population, unbalancing of the ecosystem was not taken into consideration. It’s about time beekeepers learn to appreciate the existence of the bees and understanding the positive impact when they co-habit alongside with them with the least disruption of their lifestyle. Honey farming can thus be done in a more humane way.

PIONEERS FOR THE “BEST” PROGRAM

First batch of trainees for the program. There were from Gulu district. Class conducted on 10th – 15th January 2010.

CLASS TCBP/1001

FEEDBACKS FROM THE TRAINEES DURING THE COURSE;

“I like the training on transporting bees and the way we can work on bees. My most important lesson was the way the trainer taught us on how we must handle the bees gently in order not to kill them unnecessarily. I have also benefited from the training in three ways – 1) How we must set our apiaries, 2) Working on the bees during day time. 3) How to handle the bees gently.” – Achuman Martin Odong

“What I like about the training was that it had given me technical ways of keeping honeybees. The most important lesson in the training was the calm handling of the bees. The training method was practical. I had benefited from the training a lot because I have discovered many different ways of beekeeping/management of which it will make me go back and make modern change in my bee farm.” – Odoki Thomas –

“Gin ma omiyo aropwony ma pi medo ngec pipito kic. Pi miyo nge kit me kobo kic metero ne ipoto muken. it ma myeo ibed lorem kic. Ki ngec me kwoko poto obed maleng. Ber pa Lapwong nyutu pwonye itic. Anongo ber pwonye iyo meworo, a) weko itoto kic maleng, b) miyo kic pe bedo ger.” – Odong Julius Peter

The second batch of trainees coming for the course will be on 5th July to 10th July 2010. Slowly but surely we can see more bee farmers coming forward wanting to keep bees the proper way.

WHEN THERE ARE BEES, THERE WILL BE HONEY……