Hope and the Power of Inclusion

This month I travelled to Uganda for the first time, visiting rural communities supported through our disability inclusion partnership with The Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO). I was fortunate to spend this time with the remarkable Hope Agwang, TUNADO’s Disability Inclusion Officer. Her name could not be more fitting. Hope works with patience, empathy, and deep technical skill, teaching low-cost, sustainable beekeeping to people who are too often pushed to the margins.

Hope Agwang – Disability Inclusion Officer with TUNADO

Hope works alongside a dedicated team of Apiary Masters who support her across Uganda. Richard leads work with People with Disabilities (PWD) groups in the Gulu region, while Lawrence supports communities in Soroti.

Across Uganda, having a disability can mean being sidelined, an extra mouth to feed when food is already in short supply, there are also few opportunities to contribute or earn. What I witnessed on this trip was the exact opposite. Through beekeeping, people are regaining independence, income, purpose, and status within their communities. They are becoming beekeepers who are building a livelihood for their families, trainers, innovators and in some cases, local entrepreneurs.

I was honoured and humbled to finally meet Kasule in person, someone we have been supporting for some time. Together with his wife both of whom are hearing-impaired, he supports their family of eight children and two grandchildren through beekeeping. Far from seeing himself as limited, Kasule is constantly experimenting, improving, and sharing what he learns. During our visit, he proudly updated us on his latest innovations and the new techniques he is trying in his apiary. His apiary is a model of ingenuity, 28 hives, with new brick stands he engineered to try, alongside wooden stands he crafted as a skilled carpenter. To protect his hives from ants, he’s devised simple bottle feet, filled with rainwater and smeared with black oil, a perfect example of low-cost problem-solving using what’s available. He also has living hive stands and hanging hives ready to catch roaming swarms. He really is open to trying many options.

Kasule in his apiary

Hope with Kasule’s new design palm hive

Kasule makes and repairs his own hives and is now experimenting with palm hives fashioned by bending soft palm leaves and using reeds bent into circles and leaving them to harden inside the palm casing. He has planted Cuphea hyssopifolia (commonly known as false heather) a nectar-rich shrub, as a walkway along to his apiary strengthening forage for his colonies. Coffee grows nearby too, giving his bees even more variety and in return, their pollination is boosting the yields of his crops.

Honey sales are life-changing. A five-litre jerry can fetches around 150,000 UGX, about £32, enough to pay school fees and improve their current living conditions. He is in the process of building the family a new home. He doesn’t stop at honey, Kasule also processes wax and even makes shoe polish to sell during back-to-school season. His entrepreneurial spirit is unstoppable.

He took us to meet one of his students, Majidu, who is also hearing-impaired. He began beekeeping in 2019 and has one of the most beautiful apiaries, well-shaded, tidy, and full of potential. Before beekeeping, Majidu felt isolated and angry, unable to communicate easily and without work. Meeting Kasule changed everything. Through beekeeping he has gained friendship, stability, and pride. His wife told us that he is so much calmer and less angry with life. Income from honey pays for food, clothing, and medication, and he has even begun mending shoes to supplement his earnings. He dreams of expanding his apiary, and with good reason.

Cuphea Hyssopifolia lines Kasule’s walkway to his apiary

What struck me most throughout this journey was the collective determination to learn. Every training session with Hope was full of energy: people eager to absorb new skills, from weaving local style hives to processing honey and wax to make value-added products such as propolis tinctures and shoe polish. This work is inclusive by design, and its impact is evident, dignity restored, livelihoods strengthened, and communities uplifted.

Please help make beekeeping truly disability inclusive for more rural communities in Uganda.

By supporting our Big Give Christmas Challenge, you can enable this life-changing work to continue and grow. Every donation, no matter the size, will be doubled, allowing us to reach even more people and doubling our impact.

Thank you.

Kasule with student Majidu at Majidu’s apiary