Bee-Keeper
“See my transformation!”
“My name is Abay Alemayo. I’m a farmer with four children. But with the drought not breaking, I struggled to provide for them.
Every day I felt more hopeless, as I waited for the rains which did not come. And, as the conflict got worse, I started to give up hope.”
Then your help through the LWF team arrived and offered Abay a lifeline. He joined training and work activities. And the income Abay earnt allowed him to invest in essential farming supplies, like seeds and fertiliser.
Soon after, he joined training in modern beekeeping and received two beehives for his business start-up.
“Without your support, our destiny would be really harsh, and I wouldn’t be able to farm.
In 2 or 3 months, I plan to harvest over 30kg of honey – please come and check on me then to see my transformation!
Country
Ethiopia
Who you support
Abay, father of four children
Occupation
Bee-keeper
"Your help is life-saving. I am deeply grateful."
The community likes to buy our soap because you can get a bigger block for less money and our soap is cleaner. We charge 500-1000 Burundian francs (25-50 cents) depending on the size of the block.
Other Co-ops also come here and use our resources to process their products. We don’t charge them for using our equipment. They come to buy our product and go to sell in another area or they buy palm nut oil to use for making soap.
The whole nut is used – every part of it we use for something. Some residue is used to make compost to use on our crops. The excess water goes into a small pond – it also contains husks and is left to decompose and used with the compost. We also grow beans and bananas around here.
This year with the benefits we could buy a cow. Previously we bought a pig. In the future, we would like to buy a plot of land where we could plant our own palm trees to continue to develop the activity.
We are really happy about the support from LWF and donors from Australia. We are really working on our development. We would like to thank the donor for this and the way we can now live better.”
Why your help is needed
Ethiopia has now endured seven years of drought. On top of that have come floods, locust plagues, and years of conflict. Families have been displaced and lost so much.
The main livelihood is farming, but many farmers don’t yet know climate-smart practices. Floods have also washed away the cow dung and leftover crops that are normally used for fertiliser. This leaves soil quality very poor, and erosion widespread. The removal of forests and livestock has damaged the environment even further, while businesses destroyed by fighting mean fewer jobs are available.
How your hour changes lives
Your sweet business start-up provides training, two beehives and safety and harvesting equipment in ‘modern’ beekeeping. The honey can be harvested twice per year, fetches a high price because of the quality, and produces 2.5 times the amount each harvest compared to traditional beekeeping. That means a beekeeping livelihood can bring in 5 times the amount of income to support Abay and his family. The bees also pollinate crops, which helps Abay produces more food for his family to eat.
Each hive can produce two harvests of 30 kilograms per year. That means two hives can produce a total of 120 kilograms. With honey selling for $11 per kilogram in the market, your support of a bee-keeping livelihood can generate $1,320 every year.
This support helps families grow healthy and strong.
Through Just One Hour, you help people keep on growing. Along with your beehives, families are empowered with other ways to make a living, such as chicken-raising and climate-smart farming. With your support, people make their own decisions about development in their community. They take responsibility and grow the confidence needed to become self-sufficient.