#3 A stingerfull encouter

After a few days of exploring the area, which we will call home for the future weeks, we dived straight into the practical aspects of our project. What better way to do this than by visiting the construction site of the honey collection- and processing house that’s being build thanks to the help of Flemish Brabant? You’re right, there’s none! Don't worry if you don't fully remember why this building is being constructed, here's a short recap. The house will serve as a central place where our different beekeeping groups can process their raw materials (honey & wax) with the proper equipment to produce high quality (value added) products which can be sold at a higher price. With an educational room and workshops, it does not only aim at infrastructural improvement, but also at transfer of knowledge from generation to generation, group to group. Allright, now you're following us again, back to our trip! With peaceful, winding, red sanded roads, breathtaking landscapes and of course some nice company, the two-hour drive was over in a flash. Once arrived, in the middle of a sunflower field, we finally saw it: the honey processing house of which we had been talking, thinking and dreaming throughout the year.

As you can see, progress is being made quickly: the walls are up and there is already running water! During noon, we went to the gravel- and brick makers to order the final amounts of material to finish the first stage. While typing this, the freshly poured concrete floor is hardening…

Next Tuesday, we are going back to Turiani to help with the construction of the roof and inner walls. But, first things first, the day was still young and after having visited the construction site we went to Mhonda. They are one of our freshly entered beekeeping groups, whom are also carpenters. They will make their own beehives, as well as some of the hives for the other groups located in Turiani.

Tuesday morning began with a long meeting with our project partner from the South, Nico. While discussing the future plans, Nico suddenly got a call from the University: "Jambo! We've got a bee-swarm in one of the dorms on the campus, can you have a look at it?" After he explained this situation to us, the level of excitement in the team raised to an unknown peak and we couldn't wait to go and check it out. Our first Tanzanian beekeeping experience was just about to begin.

When the evening finally fell and everyone had gone through the planned 'swarm-catching-process' in their head, Nico suddenly decided that it would not be that necessary to use smoke to calm down the bees. A little bit confused and concerned we looked at each other, but well Nico had the experience, so we decided to give it a try! A try that a few moments later would be remembered as the 'Holly-sh*t,-this-is-defenitly-not-just-a-little-swarm-on-the-roof'-event. After Nico climbed a ladder and opened the roof, hundreds (no thousands, millions, …) of little kamikaze-bees started their offense towards our approach to catch them. They were definitely winning the battle and we wisely chose to retrieve. Half an hour later we went back, the bees calmed down and we could continue our adjusted plan. Apparently, it was not just a temporary swarm, but the bees had built their nest under a large part of the roof. Together with Nico, we checked every tile and the combs where removed and placed into a new beehive, together with most of the remaining bees. This time we won, although not everyone left the battlefield unharmed. It was a very exiting experience. Although we imagined our first Tanzanian bee-encounter to be more delightful, we are still eager for more (be)experiences!

Now we had a bucket full of combs and honey, so there was some processing and of course tasting to do. Wednesday evening, we went to our first beekeeping group, the Mzumbe group, led by Tony, where we showed how to divide an existing colony in order to make new ones.

Since the processing of harvested goods is currently done manually by the beekeepers (literally with their hands), it is a time intensive job and therefore an important piece of equipment for the processing house will be a honey press. The honey is squeezed out of the honeycombs, while the wax remains together. The heart of our three engineers skipped some beats at the idea of building a mechanical press with locally available materials. Since buying such a press is expensive, the help of our economist provided the perfect opportunity to effectively build one ourselves. A plan was made and before we knew it, we were in Morogoro Town, negotiating with the local traders for the needed materials. With the aid of Tanzanian’s finest craftsmen, the separate parts were made honey-comb-press-ready. Next, we will work together with the carpenters to make a fixed frame for the honey press, but that’s for the upcoming week! Stay tuned, as we will be back soon to update you on the progress of the collection house, the honey press and the contact with the local beekeepers!