Cian Hamilton created a profoundly beautiful video about his father’s life’s work to raise funds to support him. It’s been so widely loved that people have fully funded him three times over.
Zimbabwe (19 July 2024) — Cian Hamilton, a filmmaker and director, turned his camera to his father in the hope of making life a little easier. In a now-viral video, he shared that his father, Charles Hamilton, lives a simple life in the Eastern Highlands in Zimbabwe, where he runs an ethical honey business. He teaches locals how to keep bees and then buys back any honey they produce at a more than fair price, thus providing stable incomes for many of his neighbours.
Cian created the video to support his father, who earns very little selling honey on behalf of his rural neighbours. In the process, he has highlighted a story that has brought attention to rural Africa. The video promotes further support of fair trade initiatives and highlights the plight of exploitative practices.
While Cian’s motives were to assist his father, he has done so much more for tourism—for highlighting the beauty of Africa and for ushering in talks of change, specifically on the consumer level.
Cian starts off his video sharing where his father lives.
“He lives in a little house in the middle of nowhere with no internet and just enough solar electricity to power his lights and charge his phone.
Now you might be wondering why my dad lives like this. And there are a few reasons for that. Firstly, his mother (my grandmother) built that little house with her bare hands, and she and my grandad are both buried in the garden under an apple tree. And every morning my dad sits on the bench beside that tree and drinks his coffee with them. Another reason is that it might just be the most beautiful place in the entire world.”
Cian then goes on to share how his father makes money, and this is where the story grows wings and becomes heartwarming.
“You’re also probably wondering how my dad makes money. And the truth is he doesn’t make much money but the reason for that is because he’s too good a person.
You see what my dad does is he builds beehives. Then he takes those beehives to all the communities in the surrounding areas and he gives them to whoever wants them, no strings attached. And he says to those people, “If you let me teach you how to keep bees ethically and sustainably, and you don’t spray pesticides on the plants that they pollinate, then you can bring the honey that your bees produce to me and I’ll buy it from you.” And so that’s what they do.
Some months my dad gets two tonnes of honey delivered to him from the local communities by whatever mode of transport they can manage. By foot, ox and cart, bicycle whatever they have. My dad then processes the honey naturally, packages it and sells it in the city.
And you might think this seems like a pretty good way to make money.
But you see, my dad believes in paying people fairly… more than fairly. In fact I’m almost certain that he pays more for his honey than anyone else in the country. He also believes in making his honey affordable because he knows that a lot of people can’t afford luxuries like honey. So, after everything, my dad barely makes a dollar for each jar of honey he sells.”
Over the years, several offers have been made to scale Charles’ business or to purchase it, but when agreements about adhering to ethical behaviour falter, deals fall through. Charles is determined to keep to the ethical and sustainable terms he has always held for his business.
“Needless to say, my dad isn’t doing this for money. He’s doing it because he believes in helping people. He believes in protecting nature. He believes that communities should look after each other. He believes in the goodness of human beings. Because that is the kind of person his parents raised him to be. And I’m privileged to say that it’s the kind of person my dad raised me to be.
That being said, unfortunately money is a necessity in this life. And in order for my dad to keep helping people and support communities, to keep protecting bees and the ecosystems, he does need money.
So, that’s why I’m here. And if you believe in what he’s doing as much as I do, even the smallest donation would mean the world to him.
Because I believe that kindness is infectious. And I think we need more people like my dad in this world.”
Cian’s goal was to raise €20,000, but the fund has been fully funded, and then a whole sum more. It has reached nearly €70,000 at the time of writing. That is a life-changing sum for a well-deserving man, who we are very sure will not only use it for his own life but to further the excellent work he is doing in Zimbabwe.
Take a look at the video below.
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