About Us
How did 'Bee Against Poverty Zambia' start?
It started when God laid these words "BEES FOR ZAMBIA" on my heart, the morning after I had attended a Christian conference in Bournemouth, where I had asked God to use me more for his purposes.
The word "BEES" wasn't strange to me as I am a beekeeper, but the words "FOR ZAMBIA" that was exciting and worrying at the same time. After praying about this I knew I had to go and see two good friends of mine who were already involved with two orphanages and a project called 'Streetlife' in Kitwe Zambia.
When I told Phil and Sonia what God had laid on my heart, it soon became apparent that God had already placed the same thing on Phil's heart, but the year before.
From that meeting with Phil and Sonia 'Bee Against Poverty Zambia' was born!
It was then that Phil and I, two UK Beekeepers inspired by God to use our skills as Beekeepers to help those in poverty in Zambia, began to make plans for the project. The first thing we did was to get in touch with 'Dayspring Ministries' who run the two orphanages and the 'Streetlife' project in Kitwe Zambia.
To our amazement Apostle Dr Joseph Mwila, who runs Dayspring Ministries with his wife Lillian, told us that he had recently been asked by a number of people why the church was not getting involved in beekeeping to help people out of poverty. Joseph told them that they had no one who knew anything about beekeeping within the church. That of course was until Phil and I told Joseph what God had laid on our hearts. Joseph thanked God for His provision and was very excited about the project. Since then we have been in contact with 'Dayspring Ministries' and Joseph, arranging our visit to setup bee hives and to decorate and equip a honey processing room in the girls orphanage.
What is ‘Bee Against Poverty Zambia’ all about?
Bee Against Poverty Zambia is not a charity, and as you have already read it was started by two UK Beekeepers who were inspired by God to do so. We believe that ‘Bee Against Poverty Zambia’ with Gods help, can help local people in and around Kitwe Zambia to take the first steps themselves out of poverty.
How? Well, by providing a honeycomb processing room in the girls orphanage, which will be run by the girls and produce honey and wax candles that they can sell to local retailers. This we hope will then bring in a small sustainable income for Dayspring Ministries who run the orphanages and the Streetlife project.
The problem we face now is that individual people can not have aa hive next to their homes as we can here in this country. This is because the African bees are much more aggressive than our European bees. Also there isn't the space between most of the homes and gardens that we are use to here.
Another way might be to pay farmers or villages to look after Beehives that belong to ‘Dayspring Ministries’ and then the honeycomb from these Beehives can be collected and processed into honey by ‘Dayspring Ministries’. This way Farmers or whole villages will be able to earn themselves an income from looking after the Beehives, paid to them by ‘Dayspring Ministries’.
It also helps the environment, because if farmers are earning enough income from looking after the Beehives they won’t need to destroy trees to make charcoal. Unfortunately we are still in the process of working out the details of how this might work helping local farmers and people in and around Kitwe who are in poverty to take the first steps out of poverty.
But ‘Bee Against Poverty Zambia’ with God's help, has come up with a starter plan for the project which will be funded from donations receive from various events and individual donations.
Bee Against Poverty Zambia is a work in progress, we have already been able to send bee equipment ready to set up a honey processing room in the girl's orphanage. Also we have sent protective bee suits and beekeeping equipment for a Beekeeper to look after the hives that we intend to setup on 'Dayspring Ministries' farmland.
We are now scheduled to go out to Kitwe Zambia next year, so that we can help to setup and to buy any remaining materials or equipment needed for the project.
Our aim is:
To supply 'Dayspring Ministries' with:
* 4 Top Bar Beehives with beekeeping equipment.
* Train a Beekeeper to look after the 4 Hives.
* Setup a honey processing room.
* Train someone to run the Honey processing room.
* Put more Top Bar Beehives on the farmland
Then we want to:
Help Local people in and around Kitwe by:
* Possibly supplying and setting up Top Bar Beehives on land owned by farmers or groups of villagers, who are then paid to look after the hives and get a percentage of the money made from the honeycomb after it has been processed into honey and sold.
* Enable already established beekeepers in the area to sell their honeycomb to ‘Dayspring Ministries’ for a fair price
* Helping 'Dayspring Ministries' to produce an income that is self-sufficient and sustainable through beekeeping.
What has happened so far?
Through various organised events people have been very generous and donated enough money and second-hand bee equipment, so that we have been able to set in motion what we want to achieve for 'Dayspring Ministries'. Which is to decorate and equip a honey processing room in the girls orphanage and to buy 4 protective Bee suits and gloves and smokers, plus 4 Top Bar Bee hives.
After buying the honey processing equipment and bee suits (not the top bar bee hives) we were able to safely ship it all to 'Dayspring Ministries' in Kitwe Zambia. This was with the intentions of it being there ready for us to setup, when we arrived in June 2018.
Unfortunately because of unforeseen circumstances our visit didn't take place, and it was rearranged to take place in February/March 2019, but our flight tickets, which were promised by the agent we could use in 2019 didn't materialize. Then covid hit and we were unable to travel until this year. So, now we have had to start from scratch again raising the necessary funds for our flights so that we can finally get to Kitwe and setup the project in May of next year, God willing we will get there this time.
What happens now?
We are still raising funds so that we can continue to pay for the following Bee equipment and other things needed for us to achieve our project goals for 'Dayspring Ministries' and for the local people (farmers & villagers in and around Kitwe Zambia.
Such as:
- Need to decorate the honey processing room (before we visit)
- Boys from the orphanage to setup the 4 Top Bar Bee hives on the farmland (before we visit )
- Provision of jars, account books and work jackets (before we visit)
- Getting all the legal documentation and certificates needed for the honey processing room to be completed (before we visit)
As you can see there are a number of objectives that we are trying to complete from the UK in Kitwe before we visit. However, this is proving a little difficult at the moment, but we are sure we will get there eventually with God's help.
Below are a few photos to show what type of Bee equipment we have already bought or had donated for the project and other things we still need for the 'Bee Against Poverty Zambia' project.
A list of Bee equipment bought for the project and items still needed; a red dot indicates items still needed for 'Dayspring Ministries'
Top Bar Bee Hives, Queen excluders, Protective Jackets with Veils, Protective Trousers, Protective Gloves, Smokers & Beekeeping Training
A list of Bee equipment bought for the Honey Processing Room; a red dot indicates items still needed
Decorating materials, Honey Press, Weighing Scales, Stainless Steel Strainers, Storage buckets, Settling bucket, Label maker, Ladle, Muslin cloth, Account books, Work Jackets, Plastic honey jars & a one off start-up fund.
Thank you for taking the time to read about 'Bee Against Poverty Zambia'.
The need to help people in Zambia help themselves to get out of poverty is real.
Two thirds of the population in Zambia are living in poverty, despite some big countries investing and building roads and schools etc in Zambia. With our current project plan we have and with Gods help, we want to start helping those local people in and around Kitwe, to help themselves out of poverty.
So, the question is, do you think this is something you can help us achieve?
If you would like to help 'Bee Against Poverty Zambia' project, you can do so by making a donation or by getting involved yourself in the project, for either of these, please contact us via our email at: beeagainstpovertyzambia@gmail.com.
Many thanks & God bless
Dave & Phil
'Bee Against Poverty Zambia'
