News

Ghana

Antony Kwame Essoun sent us this picture of Amisano Beekeepers' Association's stand at the Central Expo in 1998. The Association regularly provides beekeeping advice at local events and Mr Essoun (left) offers training courses in beekeeping at his farm.

*Please see the original journal article to see the picture.

United Kingdom

The nuns from the Order of The Little Sisters of the Poor in London have found a new use for propolis.

Sister Carole gave propolis to one of her elderly patients with a recurrent chest infection against which modern antibiotics were proving useless. Within five days the infection had disappeared. More excitingly, the same patient, who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease, started to become more alert and responsive. Other patients with the disease responded in a similar way. There is no clinical explanation for these findings but investigation is underway.

Source: The Daily Telegraph

Lebanon

Beekeeping is a major source of local income in At Beit-AI-Fakes, northern Lebanon. The Near East Foundation (NEF) is assisting school teachers who have, formed a Co-operative to produce honey as a means of supplementing their small salaries. In recent years the Co-operative has been unable to meet the Government's new and stricter processing and canning standards, and the local market for honey has been undercut by imports from neighbouring countries. NEF is helping the Co-operative to build a honey processing and packing factory which will serve about 3000 beekeepers.

USA

A stern warning!

Ani Saduki and his brother decided to remove a bees' nest from a shed on their property in Los Angeles with the aid of a pineapple. This sounds rather an interesting idea until we say that a 'pineapple' is an illegal fire cracker with the explosive equivalent of one half stick of dynamite.

The brothers ignited the fuse and retreated to watch from inside their home, behind a window three metres away from the shed. The impact of the explosion shattered the window inwards seriously lacerating Ani Saduki.

Deciding Mr Saduki needed stitches the brothers moved to their car to go to a nearby hospital. Whilst walking to the car Ani was stung three times by the surviving bees. Unknown to either brother Ani was allergic to bee venom and died of suffocation before he arrived at hospital.

Sent to Bees for Development by Noel Bradbear

Zambia

District Forestry Officer, Innocent Simasiku sent us this photograph of one of the training courses he organised for three beekeeping associations in the Mwinilunga District of Zambia in October I 998. The picture shows members of the Kamongesha Central Women's Beekeeping Group practising transferring bees from a swarm box into a transitional hive.