Ngoma women see hope in bee keeping

Women in Ngoma and Kayonza districts have turned to bee keeping to help fight poverty and transform their lives. Several women The New Times spoke to yesterday said the activity was paying off. With no chance to get a decent job, Immaculate Kankuyu, 45, felt she had to try out what she thought was a dangerous venture – bee keeping. “I tried working in mines but I could not stay for long because of the laborious nature of the job,” she said. “I looked around and found that the only alternative for me was bee keeping. I am a single mother of six children. We stay on a very small piece of land that cannot support us,” she said.Ever since she begun bee keeping in 2011, she has been supplying honey to urban areas in the country including Kigali. Kankuyu is all smiles as she proudly puts on her protective gear to inspect her new bee colonies. “I got skills and start up kits from Women-for-Women International (WfW) – Rwanda. Previously, I was a destitute with nothing to feed my children,” she said. Kankuyu said each of her beehives produces at least 50 kilogrammes which she sells at Rwf4,500 each. She has ten such beehives which fetch her well over Rwf2,250,000 per harvest. Bee keeping is seen by many women in the community as a friendly way of making a living. Chantal Mukanwari, 43, said beekeeping offered women an opportunity to build their own businesses and reduce dependency on their husbands. “I have been doing well in bee keeping for quite some time. It requires a very small piece of land to do it,” she said. Meanwhile, Teddy Kaberuka, the Deputy Director WfW, said they were committed to supporting the women achieve their goals. “We train the women and help them access start-up capital. They are involved in many other activities, including vegetable growing and weaving. But clearly the bee keeping business is so interesting,” he said.

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Ngoma women see hope in bee keeping