The sweet taste of success

When he was a boy living with his grandmother on a farm near Grahamstown, Phumlani Honi used to look for wild beehives to rob.

Fast forward 30 years and he is now doing everything he can to try and save them from being wiped out.

“Kill the bees and we kill the world,” the 43-year-old warned yesterday.

According to Honi, people all over the world are killing bees with all sorts of harmful chemicals without thinking of the consequences.

“It makes me angry. We need to do more to educate people about why bees are important for our own survival.”

After years learning about bees and the important role they play in nature through their work at the award- winning Makana Meadery, Honi and colleague Sindiswa Teyise are creating a buzz by training others to do their bit to save these hard-working creatures.

“The experience changed our lives forever,” Teyise said.

“We knew nothing about how important bees were in nature when we first started at the meadery.”

Besides training people to become beekeepers and helping them set up their own hives, the friends have also moved swarms of bees from local schools and houses using environmentally friendly methods to flush them out.

Together with Cambray, the duo is also looking at inexpensive ways to accommodate bees in hives that do not cost so much to produce.

This would make it easier for poor rural people to become beekeepers themselves.

“Our dream is to train hundreds more people to keep bees.

“This way we can empower them to earn a living and save the planet.”