Lewis County Beekeepers have developed a MOU with KiReeCo of Kenya to provide beekeeping training to subsistence farmers there. KiReeCo stands for Kisii Rural Education and Empowerment Coalition, a registered non-profit in Kenya, which provides full circle training and programs for subsistence farmers in the Kisii area of Kenya. Fifty-seven Kenyan farmers took the beekeeping training last year — based on translated WSBA certificate materials — and more than 500 people want to take the training now. After taking the training and getting their hives, beekeepers use their first $60 in honey sales to “pass it forward” and buy hive supplies for another Kenyan beekeeper. After that, they keep profit from honey sales. Many families use the sales to pay for school for their children. Four members of the Lewis County beekeepers will travel to Kenya this fall to provide training through this program. They are paying for all of their own travel expenses. This attachment reviews the program and the fundraising efforts to support the new beekeepers in Kenya.
For more information, please contact Norm Switzler, Lewis County Beekeepers President, at 360.330.1788, switznrs@dfw.wa.gov or Susanne Weil, Lewis County Beekeepers Secretary, at 360.880.8130, susanne.beekeeper@gmail.com or click 60 gets a beekeeper started