Teen Moms Beekeeping in Uganda

Today's guest:

Rebecca Akullu, the founder and CEO of NEWA Farms

Check out photos of hives around the world and connect with me at Hannah Boggs (@hannahatthegardens) • Instagram photos and videos

Transcript

0:00

Have you ever wondered how beekeeping looks different around the world? Today on the Global Stewardship Podcast, the weekly show that not only helps you connect with where your food comes from around the planet, but highlights the encouraging stories of farmers and food producers that are doing it with the land in mind, health in mind, community in mind. We have a second guest from Northern Uganda with us, Rebecca Oulu. She trains farmers and beekeepers across Uganda and other African countries, and runs a business that does beekeeping site selection, apiary management for other farmers, and they process B products now including a full line of cosmetics. But most importantly, their work has empowered thousands of growers across Uganda. I asked last week if y'all would start listening out for how community minded these guests are, and I want to take a moment to share my own personal experience. When I lived in Uganda in 2018, I lived and worked inside the walls of an orphanage, and so during the time I lived there, we didn't go out, but more than a couple days a week, but when we did, I noticed that people were so. Gracious and generous and giving to one another. And there are so many different individuals like Rebecca that are spending their every waking moments, supporting one another, trying to uplift their communities. And it's something that can be a little few and far between and hard to find in other places around the world. It is beautiful to see people like Rebecca putting their all into uplifting other people. In this episode, hear her powerful story, particularly how she was able to turn A tough situation. Into something that would later transform the lives of thousands of other people. It can be hard to get good audio quality when calling people from other continents, different countries that are far away. In the first couple minutes of this interview, there's some background noise. Just bear through it. It's only a couple minutes. You'd be so surprised. I've had several calls that aren't even publishable because there's just horrible signal and it's incomprehensible. I have to spend a lot of time editing out fuzzy signal, background noise, and just finding interesting guests like Rebecca a lot of people are not reachable and so I'm grateful for Rebecca taking her time to speak with us today.

Audio Only - All Participants: 2:27

Thank you so much, Anna. My name is Rebecca Klo, I'm a beekeeper. I'm a farmer actually, but specifically I do coffee and beekeeping. Surprisingly I didn't study agriculture. But I became a beekeeper by, I think I, I was forced by situations. I'm a victim of teenage pregnancy. So, 16 years ago I got pregnant. I was 16 going to 17.. And I had to face all the challenges that victims of teenage pregnancy faced in the northern part of Uganda is actually different from the other regions of the country. So other families chase away their pregnant daughters. Just to give them the punishment that they deserve. That's what they call it. mine did not chase me. My parents didn't chase me, but then they kept me around home, but I had to vent for myself. That was a punishment. So I had to do every sort of things. Move from one market to the other baking bread, manzi samosa and I was also pregnant at the time, so to make sure that I live and they gave me that kind of situation for a short time. I know that they loved me because if they didn't, they would've told me to move out of the home. So when they did that, I made. Peace with my mistake, and I embraced it. So I was like, yeah, if I am to make my parents proud, I should do it whatever way. And then,, uh, when I gave birth i'd also saved some money because I really wanted to go back to school to chase my dreams. I went to my parents and I asked my mom if she can take care of my son as I go back to school because I had saved up something. And that is the time that they knew that maybe the punishment had worked. So they're like, okay, no, you want to go back to school? And they told me, keep your money, let's embrace, um, we're gonna take care of the child and we are going to take you back to school. Completed studies, from certificate course, went to diploma, did my bachelor's degree. So I went through all the phases, but when I was doing a certificate, I got a job. My first job. I needed to not rely on my parents alone supporting me at school. I needed to support them so I got A job being a cashier in a beef farm, I really needed to know about beekeeping and that is how I got interest and, in my second year of work, I thought of the people who are having the same experience as I am, but worse, they don't have the opportunity to go back to school. been chase from home. So that is how I started engaging these people. Went I, I was like a middle man. I could connect victims of teenage pregnancy. with trainings so basically that's, that's how I, I entered into beekeeping. So yes, We made it a women affair. Not for only the victims of teenage pregnancy. There was a strong production of Honey and other bee products and I thought but what about we process. And we sell two things we sell the honey and we also sell the bees works from the honey. Instead of selling the entire thing, we go into processing and a little bit of value edition. And also this would be able make the value chain a bit wide for women who want to specialize in the farming part of it. Then the rest would specialize in the processing and the rest also in the training. And like the value chain for people to participate where they, they feel like they have passion in. So I now became the CEO for the company alongside another person, who is also a director, and the women are our members and out growers. So the suppliers we've, gone through, there are now too many, there are over 5,000, but we've signed with about 453. Because those are the people we can buy from. Then if there's still some more money, we can buy from the rest also. But we also connect others to the market. But I'm hoping that with time we're going to increase the numbers and that will be good for everyone. Right. I'd also love for you to share with listeners why it's so important that you're supporting women. So, my community has always been where I learned everything. I do the needs assessment and I know that this is what the community needs, but, I come from a place where 20 years ago was so. Affected by the Lord's Resistance Army, rebels. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, you know, rebels that have stayed in one location for over 30 years can affect the development of that place. And they were very, very common instances where illiteracy was common because people have to move from one come. To the other and people didn't study well and then the girl child has been looked at as a source of wealth. Sometimes the family does not have to staff when a girl child is there to marry and a 60-year-old who is able to give like, uh, 500 USD to the family and the family will be counting. Yeah. 500 USD can feed us for some time. So this has been the situation. Yeah. It could be even less in most cases, so, that is why I went into supporting women because dad felt this. And also they know the value of being in a place where you can hand something for the family. Second, only, I had to engage the women because, in, my region most times if you give a, if a man gets money, he will think of. It will think of, uh, maybe getting a second wife, a third wife, and mismanage money go and drink. It's not always a hundred percent. I am not saying that because there are so many men still would take good care of their homes, but it is seen and evidence that a woman who has money will never run away with the monies if the family is starving. Our family is going to be her priority. When a woman has money, she would rather buy food than to do with it, than to use for something else. A mother cannot see their kids suffer. And this, we were just thinking about it with assumptions but after engaging these women, we realize that this is actually true. Yeah. And women put a lot of their hearts. They put efforts in whatever they're doing, they make sure that it comes out. It's always said that when you give a woman something, a woman is naturally a producer. So they always reproduces, and this has always worked. For us and it has really been a success. So basically that's why I engage the women, but also to empower them. We do other things In these trainings. We do financial literacy because you don't want to get the money and not know how to use it. Yeah, it's really very important that we also engage their husbands. It's also very important that the men are engaged so that we don't, we also at the end of the day, avoid domestic violence and chaos at homes. We keep their marriages intact and the family is one at the end of the day. Yeah. Yeah. That's beautiful. That's important work, and it is so true that women tend to put a lot more. Care and intention into things. Definitely. I would love to ask,'cause when I read about you, I read about your different grants, like your collaboration with the world bicycle relief, and how you received a sturdy buffalo bicycle that was meant to allow you to travel with that smart projector to go to nearby villages and help educate others. Wondering how has that been working out? Is the bike still holding up? And could you share about like how you are educating these people? Yeah, the bike, the bike is still there. It's, it's, it has helped actually, more than I even thought. It has helped other people as well. Before the bike came, we entered into a proposal writing competition that, uh, I came out as one of the winners and we got the solar powered smart projector. Now we needed this, so much. It really helped. I don't know how to put this. And No, no word will fit it. How it has helped the projector, because first of all, it's not, uh, it doesn't need electricity. It's chargeable and it's solar powered, so you can move with it to an hard to reach area as far as possible. And luckily some of the agricultural videos had translated in the local language, which makes it easy for, for the locals to understand if the ones that are not translated, I do project the videos and I translate for them. But you also understand sometimes visually. When someone is watching something in a video, they even understand it by the actions they're seeing in the movie. So at the end of the day, you just need to, explain a little. Right? So it has really been great. Then after the proposal writing and, the smart projector, they gave us the buffalo. Bicycle. And, it has been great because it has made it easy for us to travel from one village to the other, especially during the projection. Now at moment I am in the city. I'm in Kampala, but I have trained someone. People got so engaged in the projector, the bicycle is still working because previously we used to. Use money to get transport, maybe a motorcycle to move from one place to the other. But now it's, it's simple. It's, it's not even working for only the project, it's working for other things. It's used for bringing farm produce from, from the farm to the store. Yeah. So That's so cool. It's a relief. Yeah. Yeah. Many listeners may think that biking around is crazy, but in much of your part of Africa, it's just what makes the most sense. Yes. Can you help paint that picture for people of why that is and, the people you've been able to educate and reach because of it. Okay. Um, I can say that the weather issues of climate change is changing the entire thing, but, the northern part of Uganda is, I could say semi-arid. It's not so dry and it's has seasons. And you know, in Uganda we only have two, two seasons. We don't have winter autumn, like you, summer, we only have dry seasons and rainy seasons, but, the arrangement is farmer groups can bring themselves together and they contact us. For our service, then they'll invite us and we shall go to their location, to project. And so at the first stage, when they bring their intention. When they bring their intention of interest in our project, we talk much. Uh, on as far as them choosing also the videos, the specific videos that they would want to be screened so that when we are going, we giving exactly what they need. Uh, we also work with NGOs. Who are sponsoring farmers, especially, NGOs that have agricultural projects that are, maybe supporting grassroots farmers. And that's how we've been doing it. Yeah. I would love to ask questions about beekeeping in a minute, but before we do that, I had one more question about. Visiting these farmers with this information. I read somewhere that farmers wanted to see videos about maize and how to tackle their fall army worm problem, and then they started controlling it by detecting the issues early, but then using things like wood ash instead of synthetic pesticides. Do you have any other examples of ways that you have seen farmers slowly implementing more nature friendly changes because of this educational information you've been able to provide for people? Yeah, we've, we've really seen, there are so many ways now, we've seen so much, like farmers have implemented a lot, farmers have gone into. Implementing archeological principles in their farms through these videos, because all these videos are supporting theological principles, making sure that everything comes out organic and clean for human consumption and our health. Mm-hmm. So, yes, not only we've seen farmers using, ash wood hash. After burning the wood, getting barrage, they've used it as pesticides instead of using chemical pesticides. Yeah. We've seen farmers use Chile and they're implementing it well, Chile, as a pesticide, as an insecticide. Hmm. They mix it with water and spray it on the plants. And it has really worked out. We've seen also farmers using soil protection methods, which are naturally available to secure the soil and, green state, it's health. By pouring rabbit urine. When they're planting in the soil. So, I can say with Atmos strength that farmers they're at the end of the day bringing healthy food for our consumption. Yeah, did you say rabbit urine? Is that what you said? Yes. Rabbit urine. Yeah. We have, we have rabbits on my farm as well. For the same, they're for our gardens and so many farmers here think they're just for the kids or they're just for fun because that knowledge is lost. People don't know that their urine and manure is so good and can instantly go in the garden. Unlike many other livestock animals where you'd want it to sit longer or, heat up as compost, it just can go right in. So I think that's fascinating. Well, I would love to talk about your beekeeping. Can you share what beekeeping has traditionally looked like in Uganda? Maybe what beehives are traditionally made of, and then what you're doing now. Okay. Now in, uh, in Uganda we have African bees. They do thing. And very aggressive. They're not stingless, when you go with them, it's like a fight. You come back with swellings and they'll let you know that this is not going to be easy for you. Wow. Um, we have so many types of beehives. We have one which is local bamboo made from a bamboo tree. Uh, we have one which is made like baskets Locally made. From locally available materials. Then we have one which is called Kenya Top Bar Hive. That one originated from Kenya, but it is, we use timber. We also have lung stroke, which is commonly used in Europe. But it's not really commonly used in Uganda or Africa. But yes, it's there. You'll find that in our farm you'll find at least five of them or less. But just to show diversity and show how many different I people have, um, all I can say is beekeeping has been a very, it's something I entered in situations forced me to, but I've embraced it like it's a part of me now. Mm-hmm. I can't say that it's easy because, It is not easy. Looking at the challenges, climatic conditions changing here and there, lots of used of chemical pesticides. Uh, people introduced these things in, uh, in the northern part of Uganda. Yeah. People got lazy. People are now not weeding. Farmers are spraying their gardens, instead of weeding using an hole like they used to do, or using a tractor or cows like they used to do before, and I can say that this has affected the number of bees so much that it has also affected us beekeepers on the outcome that we get from beekeeping. And uh, to the farmers, they think that this is. Upon the beekeepers, But at the end of the day, they don't know that beekeeping is actually why their crops are yielding, right?'cause bees, bees provide 80% or even more. Of pollination, of global pollination of all their plants. So the bees will go. If they die, your rate of yield also reduces, and we are trying to preach this so that they embrace natural ways of doing farming while safe for the insects and safe for humans. So, the government has also tried, particularly in Uganda to support us, the beekeepers. We have an apex body which supports all beekeepers in the country. I've been here for more than 13 years, and I know where we were 10 years ago and where we are right now. I cannot say that we are going at a first pace, but we've done at least something to. Come from where we were previously. Everyone used to see beekeeping as a joke, but at least we've seen now people getting engaged. They used to see like it's for people who are not educated, people do it for fun. But I've seen so many people come up and now looking at beekeeping as business, and when I look back, I really get amazed by it. Um, the challenges we get is, with adulteration of honey, there's a lot of honey in the market is not being controlled. So there's someone with selling adulterated honey in an open market and they're not being arrested yet. There's, you was paid for quality assurance, mark, you packed your honey and put in the supermarket and you're not being protected. By the people who are supposed to protect you, right?'cause if, if we can do this and get rid of the. Adulterated honey in the open market, then that means that people would prioritize buying from the people who are paying for quality assurance and also paying for taxes. But the biggest challenge in the farming stage of it is that the number of bees have reduced so much that sometimes you get only a 60%, colonization in the B farm Yeah, yeah. We are facing the same problems, and so I would hope people would see what's happening here and make changes around the world because we are losing almost all of our pollinators, our honeybees. Granted, the honeybees that are here that we use for farming are not native, so they're different. Like yours are native to Africa. Ours are not native to North America, but the pesticide use has almost killed them all. I've read numbers and there's different numbers everywhere, but as much as 90, 99% were lost last year, so you would think people would see what's happening here because of the. Overuse of chemicals and, the way it's affecting pollination on crops and be really, really concerned. It's, it's a big problem. And, it calls attention to the need for more organic farming practices. I. I think, uh, it's, it's really, everywhere. I am a, a preacher. An advocate for this now everywhere I go I make sure I speak about this. Last time I was with the national, agriculture research organization of the country, and, I really emphasized this, if they can help find a way of, reducing the use the release of chemicals, of farm chemicals in the country, and train more farmers on natural ways this would be something great. The people that come with these chemicals also come with so much more to offer the farmers because they know that the farmers have been told, this is not good. This is going to kill your soil. This is going to do this. So they come with so many huge, uh, benefits that the farmers can't run away from. And yeah, we are waiting for what happens. Mm. But it's, it's bad. It's not good.

23:44

It is bad and really sad, but encouraging that people like you are making a difference. And that's the whole point of this podcast to uplift people like yourself that are raising awareness about these environmental issues that have to do with farming. Can you share more about some of the things that you've taught beekeepers in your community? I have read about the practices people used to do in beekeeping that were harmful, for example, instead of destroying the hives, you have taught a lot of beekeepers that they can actually smoke the bees out instead of just destroying the hives.

Audio Only - All Participants: 24:23

Yeah, yeah, we do that. It's part of our training, actually we train in the entire, beekeeping training model. So we're training them on modern beekeeping practices with an aim that they transfer from the traditional way of beekeeping. So now in the modern beekeeping practices, which is safe for the bees and safe for our environment, it is very mandatory that instead of burning, because previously people used to go with life fire and just burn the bees. They kill all the bees and take their honey and sit there and wait for another colony to come and colonize the hives. But we've trained people that it's the same bees you can still take their honey and they get back inside the hive and they rebuild their comms. So every farmer that we've trained as a smoker, as a bee, a vesting kit, which contains a smoker, a bee suit, a veil. Uh, gloves, gum boots, and, hair tight buckets to keep the honey safe because in whatever we do, we'd also want to make sure that honey reaches the consumer's table as it was in the hive without any adulteration and honey, being a food it's really very easy for it to be adulterating, especially during harvest and post harvest. So we try so much to make sure the farmers learn on how to do this. So the have hair, take bucket, the smoker, be high, a hive tool and a big brush so that at the end of the day, things come with a safe and hygienic. Yeah. Yeah. So we train the, the farmers on beekeeping, modern methods, farming methods, be life and behavior. We also train them in processing how to process honey and how to keep it safe and how to package it and brand it. If for those one who want to go into that. So we always do a needs assessment on whatever the farmers want and we deliver to them what they want, but of course, basing on advice after seeing what they're doing at their farm.

26:35

Yeah. I have found it so fascinating to learn about all of the different hive types across Africa, whether it's. With clay, or like you said, bamboo. It's not just the typical wooden boxes that we see here in the states, and the fact that you have so many different types and how hives are up in trees and not just on boxes on the ground and how different it is in different places. It's also so cool to think of all of these women in bee suits learning these things, making money for their families, making a change in their community. And amazing to think of you as a leader in this. You have four children now, right?

Audio Only - All Participants: 27:16

Yeah. So

27:16

I. Am an entrepreneurial mother myself, and I'm always fascinated to hear how other moms like you, prioritize their families while also having these deep callings to impact so many other people's lives as well. Like outside of the home. Of course, not everyone is called to juggle being a mother and having a full-time career. But what would you say to the mom listening, who does feel that call on her life?

Audio Only - All Participants: 27:41

I have so many of them. It's not been easy. It's not easy, but one thing you need is passion. That's all I can say. When you have passion for something, you'll always make sacrifices. If you have passion for it and uh, you've planned for your activities and how you're going to do things, imagine some of us we entered motherhood without planning, but we had to figure a way how to make things work the way we wanted it to work. So maneuvering between, being a mother, being an entrepreneur, being a wife, being a daughter, being a daughter-in-law, it's, it's, it's quite too much for, for per person. But one thing is you also need supportive relatives. People will believe in you. Even if they don't believe in you, they shouldn't tell you. They don't. They should support you. Yes, because once you have a passion, even if they tell you they don't support you, it may not be something that you'll bite. You'll still go ahead. Yeah. So one of the things that I was. Really kept me high is, having supportive people around me, family who supported me, even if they didn't believe in me, but later I made sure that I didn't disappoint them. Half four of them? And, it's not been easy, but, with supportive people around you, they can, you can drop the children to school and someone else picks them, right? That's part of the assistance. That seems small, but some, it's something big. You can, do their own work while someone does their laundry. And that's good. You can take them to the PlayStation while someone helps you cook for them at home. But of course I cannot say that the challenge has not been there because sometimes you're going for a workshop out of home for one week and you have to go with a baby, you have a baby. The baby's crying here and there. You need to breastfeed, you need to present, and it's quite challenging, but it's something that is not surprising. Everyone has been a child of someone before and people will see and embrace. It matches you feel out of place. But I think it's just taking who you are so that people get to know that this is who I am. Yeah. So that in case they miss, they already know that I am a mother, this person is a mother, this person is an entrepreneur, this is a wife. And they'll basically understand that and you shouldn't lose your focus. So that's what has helped me. I love that.

30:14

I've experienced that traveling and visiting people's farms. I didn't think that I could ever do it as a mother, and now that I do at first when I reach out to farms and let them know that I'm coming with a child. It's a little intimidating at first, but I find that everyone welcomes us with open arms and is excited to embrace me and the whole package that is me, which includes me being a mom. what a great reminder.

Audio Only - All Participants: 30:40

Um, I definitely can relate and that's very encouraging. Is there anything else that you would like to share about how people can support you, that's, uh, so much support, like, of course, your podcast, the world should know what we are doing, and you can never. Take that for granted because that's how you get to meet people. That's how we get visibility of businesses. It's very important at the moment. That's how customers get to know you. That's how investors get to see you. That's what we need actually so much. But then we also need electric processors. When we have an electric processor, that means that we are going to process all our honey in a short time, and shall also be confident enough to know that we can sustain the market. We have some people with electric processors, but not too big. Big capacity. Yeah, not too big capacity. And it sounds like it's for the company, but at the end of the day it goes back to benefiting the local farmers because that would mean that they're going to supply more. And that would mean that we shall get more market and also engage more farmers and also buy from more than the 5,000 we have. So that way they'll also have the zeal to hard on more hives so that they can produce more. And you know, at the end. This will increase the, the livelihoods. It'll improve the livelihoods, and it'll create more impact at the end of, the day. Do you know how many people you have reached with this mission? Yeah, we breed,, we have a number. We read so many, but we only have the profiled farmers five, 5,026 mm s of yesterday. It's a lot of people. That's really amazing. Yeah. Wow. So we are still impacting more. That's incredible. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for talking with me today. Just so cool. What one person's life change, what your story has pushed you to do to train and uplift and empower other people thank you so much. You're welcome.

33:04

Thank you for tuning in to another Tuesday episode of the Global Stewardship Podcast. I do hope to have a couple bonus Thursday episodes coming up here again soon, so just keep an eye and a ear out. I hope you left this episode feeling like you learned something about where your food comes from. Rebecca's powerful story, particularly the grace and generosity her parents showed during their discernment on how to best serve their daughter. Amidst feeling a need to discipline and teach her is, uh, it's just cool to see how that transformed the lives of so many others. According to unicef, one in four Ugandan women are pregnant by the age of 19. That's 25% of women in rural areas that are becoming teenage moms. So it is very clear that what she is doing, that there is a need for it and beautiful that so many people have been impacted by her work. I definitely left feeling like I learned like had you ever considered that Africa has different honeybees that people raise honey in different kinds of hives around the world? 12% of global honey production comes from Africa and. You know, each country and continent around the globe does it differently. So check out my social media to see photos comparing and contrasting honey production around the globe. I've visited many honey producers. It really concerns me that B populations are declining worldwide because the manmade solutions that quote unquote west countries like the US are coming up with will not reach. Everybody quickly, if B populations do continue to decline, of course, you know, of course that's worst case scenario, but it is striking me as a red flag that many people are planning for the worst case scenario with pollination as far as farmers in the US goes. And everywhere else is following suit so I really thank people like Rebecca who are out there doing the work to raise awareness about this in their own countries. It is far more important than I can put into words. Thank you again for listening. If you listened to last week's Tuesday episode, and it sounded like I was ranting to myself, it said on my platform that 21 people listened to the show before I was able to go in and edit this big mistake, but I accidentally uploaded the wrong file with me rambling to myself on it. So if it did sound different or strange, that's because it totally was. So thank you for the 21 of you who hopefully came back this week and stuck through it, even though I missed that mistake last week. Everyone in the podcasting world says that as you start a new show, things like that are gonna happen. You're going to not press record with a guest, or you'll post the wrong file, say the wrong thing. And so I just appreciate you guys bearing with me through this new journey. What's really exciting is that most podcasts hardly make it to 10 episodes, and we are almost there, so it's only gonna go up from here. I appreciate each and every one of you and hope to catch you again next Tuesday on the Global Stewardship Podcast.