Urban beekeeping is on the rise to help the bee population, most recently a homeless shelter in Canada has offered this skill to its residents.
Accueil Bonneau is a shelter and homeless care center based out of the Montreal, Canada. The shelter has discovered the rewarding effects of teaching its residents about urban beekeeping.
The shelter teamed up with the beekeeping company Alvéole to work with homeless men, training them in the skill of beekeeping. Many men have successfully reintegrated back into society thanks to the social and professional skills that they learned through the programme.
“Over 60 hives across seven locations within the city are cared for be homeless bee apprentices. The honey is then harvested and sold at participating Metro supermarkets. The money raised from the honey helps fund the program and provides small payments to the homeless apprentices”
One of the programme participants, Roger Décarie, discussed the importance of bee’s to society and the environment.
“Survival of bees is important to me, often mistaken for wasps that are more aggressive, they are maltreated and killed. Without the bees, there would be no flowers, no trees, nature would not be the same. We need to take care of them, just like they take care of us, and I am proud to contribute to that.”
Beekeeping by-laws in South Africa make this type of rehabilitation a little bit harder but not impossible!
The law states that any person may be an urban beekeeper as long as they hold the relevant permits and follow the rules as set by their municipality. For full information on the laws of South African beekeeping, check the ‘South African Bee Industry Organisation’ website.