Fabiola had helped her colleagues plant and maintain the mangrove forest at Le Morne. She returns there regularly to clean it up, while now devoting herself to beekeeping. “At first, I got stung four or five times. It hurt, but I eventually learned…” She’s still afraid, but now she knows how to approach the bees with her bare hands, using smoke to disrupt the queen’s pheromones. A single mother for the past few months, with three children—including two babies—this former nursing assistant recounts with a big smile that she experienced this career change “as a form of therapy,” giving thanks to those who supported her, such as Jean-Paul Hennequin, director of the Éclosia Solidarity Foundation, and Michael Lafrance.
Like her colleagues, she has learned how to maintain the hive, monitor the queen, and handle the equipment… A shipping container, installed in June at Green Village, has been converted into a shop and workshop-laboratory for extracting honey and bottling it, for direct sales and outreach… An upcoming training session will equip them to raise awareness about these tireless workers, without whom many plants would no longer be able to bloom and bear fruit. They will also explain the role and life of the mangrove, as well as the art of crafting this intensely fragrant nectar. “These ladies know how to roll up their sleeves,” exclaims the beekeeper. “That’s why everything went so well. I taught them the trade through hands-on experience in the field, so they could learn theright techniques and develop a keen eye. I’m still mentoring them. Soon, I’ll show them how to capture a swarm in the wild…”
* “At first, I got stung four or five times. It hurts, but I’ve learned…”
