by Gary Sieling
The Bwindi Youth have fifty hives, but dream of having eight hundred. This Ugandan youth program started by founder Agaba Moses to help pay his school fees, and has grown to fifty people, with visions of spurring entrepreneurship, tourism, and job creation in southern Uganda.
This region in Uganda is widely known for Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, a park of 128 square miles that is home to diverse wildlife, flowering plants, and trees. This park dates back to the early 1930s, when it was established as a government recognized forest reserve. In the 1960s it was designated an animal sanctuary, and restricted in the early 90s to protect endangered mountain gorillas. The Bwindi Youth offices are listed as “40 metres from game park entrance.” Because the gorillas are fenced inside the park they do not destroy the beehives.
The vast majority of local residents are dependent on agriculture for their income, including the Batwa Pygmies. When the Impenetrable National Park was established, the Batwa peoples were evicted from the park, they were given no compensation, having no title to the land.
The Bwindi Youth aim to be a community led organization to teach people agricultural methods, conservation, nutrition, and upstanding moral values, while providing new ways of making a living. They currently sell honey in the area where they work, and have a computer and camera, but lack financial means for packaging their honey to distribute further.
What they lack for in means, they make up for in organization. Their group of fifty has a detailed constitution, budget, long-term work plan, and promotional brochures. Five of their members are called out on their brochure as officers, ranging from counseling, tourism, and catering, to graphic design and business administration.
see photos...Making Beehives
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