ePRT program creates 'buzz'

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Luisito Brooks | Twenty-five women graduating from a beekeeping training program stand next to their beehives during a ceremony March 27. The women, widows and divorcees, were trained as beekeepers and will be able to raise the bees and sell their honey.  

SHATT AL TAJI, IRAQ

04.03.2010

Story by Spc. Luisito Brooks 

4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division

SHATT AL TAJI, Iraq — A blossoming new program organized by the embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team-North is creating a buzz and giving area widows and divorcees a much sweeter future.

But the buzz being generated around the program is more than just a figure of speech, as the Iraqi women involved are learning the ins and outs of beekeeping.

On March 27, a graduation ceremony was held for 25 Iraqi women who completed the beekeeper training program here.

"These women are the heads of the household, many (because of) the sectarian conflict," said Mary-Denise Tabar, the public diplomacy and women's affairs advisor for ePRT-North. "The program aims to train local rural women on the theoretical and practical applications of basic beekeeping."

ePRT-North is embedded with the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division whose subordinate battalions provide security for the team, allowing them to work safely on projects such as this in the area north of Baghdad including Tarmiyah and the city of Taji.

Taught in four hour sessions over a period of six days, the course covered the proper care of bees and techniques to harvest their honey.

"The women were chosen by the non-government organization, Rafedain Foundation who know the community and the women who need it most," explained Tabar.

Interest in the beekeeping course proved to be extremely high, explained Tim Lowery, an agricultural specialist with the ePRT, and having received more applications than there were available seats, the team is already planning more courses for the future.

Upon completion of the training each women received their own active and healthy beehive, containing thousands of the buzzing insects, along with all the necessary equipment to operate it.

In total, the entire beekeeping training program including the 25 beehives for the graduates, tools and supplies cost approximately $23,450, said Tabar.

Each beehive houses anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 bees, that on the average can produce about 15 to 20 kilograms of honey a year. Bees also provide a valuable resource for local farmers, pollinating their crops.

"For most of these women, this is how they earn income for their households," said Tabar. "They can sell a kilo of honey anywhere from $20 to $50."

During the graduation ceremony, family and friends looked on as the new beekeepers were called forward receive their certificates and beehives, and showed their support for this accomplishment with rounds of applause.

Honey has brought these women dealing with great adversity together, and with this new skill, it will reduce their image as a burden on their family or society.

One graduate was so overwhelmed that she was brought to tears during the ceremony.

"A women told me that she was so thankful for everything and can remember having bees as a child," said Lowery, "She said that she would raise the bees like they were her own children."

• Date Taken: 04.03.2010
• Date Posted: 04.03.2010 19:54
• Story ID: 47648
• Location: SHATT AL TAJI, IQ