PLEWA FAMILY FOUNDATION WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH NASIO TRUST ANNUAL REPORT 2021: BEE FRIENDLY MISSION

The NASIO TRUST – Charity Background

The Nasio Trust is a UK registered charity and Kenyan NGO which supports orphaned and vulnerable children and empowers communities to break the cycle of poverty by a holistic approach providing education, improving health, food security, psychosocial support and developing commerce. Our strapline of ‘Changing Lives for Good’ reflects the way we help transform the prospects of countless individuals – in Kenya, Tanzania and the UK.

The objective of the Nasio Trust, established over 20 years ago, is to empower communities for social change, helping unlock leadership potentials, and deliver sustainable and scalable ways of addressing the world’s problems by working with communities, individuals, governments, partners and other NGO’s to directly tackle and contribute in ways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Introduction

This report covers the partnership work between Plewa Family Foundation and The Nasio Trust to support a bee friendly project supporting a widow Eunice Atieno (the mother of Benedict, one of the Nasio sponsored exceptional students and her daughter Michelle) supported in bee keeping for use and surplus for household income to support her family.

The purpose of this project is to produce and sell honey; it’s a means to diversify livelihood and make the best use of available resources. Bees also have immense benefits in terms of provision of pollinators which enhance crop yields benefiting her maize farm. Raw honey has been used as a folk remedy throughout history and has a variety of health benefits and medical uses including healing wounds and killing unwanted bacteria and fungus. Honey is an old sore throat remedy especially when mixed with lemon juice. It’s also a potent prebiotic, meaning it nourishes the good bacteria that live in the intestines, which are crucial not only for digestion but overall health.

We donated one beehive to Eunice to help her produce and sell as much honey as possible because honey is in high demand in Mumias West.

Project rationale, aims and objectives

Bees are essential for the health of people and the planet. Honey and other products have medicinal properties, and the role of bees as pollinators makes them vital for food supplies as well as improving livelihoods in rural Kenya.

People in Kenya have access to some of the world’s most diverse and productive rural landscapes and have easy access to hive making material. However, they often lack either the opportunities or the knowledge to get started in bee keeping. Due to Eunice’s vulnerability as a widow with two children in education we have provided her with a bee hive to help her reap the benefits that keeping bees can bring.

We have provided training and equipped her with the skills and knowledge needed to keep bees, and to process and sell honey and beeswax. From the sale of honey she can generate further income to support her family.

This project equips families with a source of income as well as protecting the biodiversity of our environment with positive impact on enhancing maize crops due to increased pollination effect.

Current Project status

Activity Achievement

• Suitable site identified for the bee hive
• Training in bee keeping by agricultural experts (Ministry of Agriculture)
• Beehive installed and training provided on how to monitor health of the hive and protect honey from ants and other predators
• Bees have now taken residence in the hive
• Harvesting is due in the next three months
• Harvested honey will be used by the family and surplus sold to generate household income

Impact

The hives have just been set up and should be ready for harvesting in the next three months, the hive will further enable Eunice to support her children to have a better quality of life and escape the spiral of poverty and poor health. Beekeeping will further enable Eunice to build a sustainable living through the income from honey, while also protecting biodiversity.

Eunice is so grateful for this opportunity.

Asante Sana – Thank You Very Much