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jenkinsbrynmair

International Beekeeper of Mystery
***
BeeKeeping Supporter
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
35,892
Reaction score
15,715
Location
Glanaman,Carmarthenshire,Wales
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
Too many - but not nearly enough
Had a whatsapp phonecall yesterday from Tanzania, Innocent the person I'm mentoring as a trainer out there, just checking that we were OK as they've heard what a mess HMG are making of Covid (it tickles me, that a person in total lockdown in his two room mud brick hut in deepest darkest Tanzania considers us to be the ones worse off!)
Soon got to chatting about bees though and the project we are trying to set up with WWF (once we settle the bean counters).
It's harvest time out there but, due to the stringent lockdown they have he is not allowed to travel to his apiaries to take off the honey, he's hoping they will relax the rules a little next week.
 
Yes, I'vs sat on an earth floor in a mud hut in Tanzania eating goat stew with the remaining flock in the hut with us .. with people to whom clean water is a luxury and who, on the whole, are a lot happier than most people in the western 'civilised' world with all the trappings of luxury that we live with...
 
Lol your not the only 1 who’s had that experience, after a hard day working the bees sweating like a barsteward and being force fed a thick hot stew in vast quantities. All I wanted was a light salad. And put quite frankly it’s rude to refuse!
 
Lol your not the only 1 who’s had that experience, after a hard day working the bees sweating like a barsteward and being force fed a thick hot stew in vast quantities. All I wanted was a light salad. And put quite frankly it’s rude to refuse!

Yes ... and you just know what is going to happen to your insides the following day .. or sooner if you get unlucky ! We soft westerners are not always well equipped to cope with living in the bundu ..

My usual preference was that unless it had been deep fried, was fruit peeled by me, it was aloholic or bottled coca cola, it did not pass my lips - but it's very rude to refuse when you know that goat stew is a real treat for your hosts.

I was in the Gambia on one occasion and invited round to my Agent's home for a meal .. fairly civilised I would add - a nice meal of chicken stew with polenta .. followed by what I thought was a semolina pudding. I just love Semolina pudding and as my host's wife loaded up my dish with this beautifully cooked and presented dessert my mouth and senses were watering in anticipation of a taste of home .. I'd been out there for nearly 6 weeks in the days when communications were limited to telex and very infrequent (and often crackly) telephone calls, living largely on egg and chips, fresh fruit and Scotch and Coca Cola.

PEANUTS .. it was powdered peanut pudding.- a local delicacy and staple apparently.. almost unsweetened - imagine a bucket full of almost neat peanut butter (I hate peanut butter - it leaves my mouth itching and burning). I struggled through the huge bowl full and had to turn down my host's offer of a second helping ... Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it !
 
The one advantage of the effect of local food on the stomach is the time needed to use a squat and sh!t toilet means the strain on my creaking joints doesn't last long enough to stop me from getting back up without assistance!!
 
Yes, I'vs sat on an earth floor in a mud hut in Tanzania eating goat stew with the remaining flock in the hut with us .. with people to whom clean water is a luxury and who, on the whole, are a lot happier than most people in the western 'civilised' world with all the trappings of luxury that we live with...

When I took up the keeping of bees in the hope of a better life... sold the Yacht and the second home, took vows of poverty.... with the wet winter... and bumbling Boris in charge of our destiny..... sitting in a mud hut with the sun beaming down without extortionate water rates would have seemed bliss!

Chons da
 

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