Make it Happen.

The latest catalogue from Thornes, the primary British bee keeping equipment suppliers, arrived today and had a leaflet for the third world charity, “Bees for Development.” The tree with the log hive suspended beneath it is the charity’s logo.
 
Inside the leaflet is a picture of a smiling schoolgirl called Kindu who lives in Ethiopia. Living a life of poverty, she was given a honey bee colony and taught how to manage it and, at the end of her first year, she had sold enough honey to buy enough food to last her family for three months. At the end of her second year, she had bred a few more colonies and could also afford to send her younger sister to school. From our own connections with a similar charity, we’ve long been aware of how much can be achieved with small amounts of money, and also, that Thornes have actively support bee based charities in the developing world for many years.

It seems to be common for hobbyists to have charitable affiliations; anyone who regularly reads my Blips will be aware of the quilting fraternity’s incredible support for the local Project Linus groups, and I know of weavers’ groups which have connections with third world organisations since weaving is a craft that can be learnt by underprivileged people and used to raise themselves out of poverty. Long may it continue.