Laying bricks and buzzing forward with beekeeping

Over the past few weeks, we've mainly been busy with bricklaying and tiling, but there were also plenty of more interesting moments worth mentioning.

During the week, we had a visit from Tadeáš, known as TadyTada, who spent a few days with us. Together, we visited several beekeeping communities, carried out monitoring, and learned more about the current state of beekeeping in selected areas.

Over the weekend, representatives from the Czech and German embassies in Lusaka came to visit. We introduced them to the local community and the various workshops, danced together, and took a walk around the area. At the beginning of July, our team was joined by architect Ondra and Monča from the PR team. Ondra got to work measuring and cutting wood for the roof trusses, so preparations for the roof structure are now well underway.

At the end of July, we finalized the plans for the upcoming beekeeping workshop. We outlined the production of beehives, smokers, and swarm boxes, as well as the strategy for distributing this equipment, including the certification requirements, packaging, and more. The following days were spent sourcing materials. We ran into some delays, especially with the delivery of wood, but in the end, we managed to sort everything out and started the production process. Local volunteers, under the guidance of an experienced carpenter, are handling the manufacturing. As the beekeeping workshop develops, we're also strengthening connections with communities and farmers nearby as many of them are potential buyers of the products made in our workshops.

In Zambia, dry and hot conditions often lead to grass fires, and locals usually don't pay much attention to them unless they come close enough to their homes. That's when people start putting them out with water or beating them with tree branches. One such fire crept toward our facilities and construction site on Wednesday. Fortunately, both are surrounded by a patch of bare earth that helps prevent the flames from reaching buildings, but once it got close enough, we stepped in to extinguish it. Running around in burning grass is definitely an experience we won't forget.

We also managed to visit one of the beekeeping communities, where we discovered a large amount of honey. Later, we headed into the city to take care of some organizational tasks, and after a working Saturday, we spent Sunday at Nsobe Safari Park. There, we met the head of a local secondary school and some of the students, and we exchanged experiences, ideas, and possibilities for collaboration between their school and ours.