Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Around The Yard

So around the yard also means around the factory.

Laure-Eloise convinced me that I should put some more pictures up.



The guys stirring the honey before we 'process' it.


Unloading the new machine for bottling the honey.


A (yellow) flower.


Me on a Sunday afternoon.


I have a few ideas rolling around that I hope to share on my next post, coming soon. The weather in Lusaka has changed dramatically in the last 3 weeks, we now get +30 during the day and the low at night hardly requires a blanket. The hot season is upon us.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

The Honey Team

his is what its all about...

well ok, maybe it was just nice to have a lot of friends around. This last week I was lucky enough to attend the Zambian Agriculture and Commercial Show, which was amazing. There were a lot of development organizations, but also a lot of businesses.
Rogers checks out a 30 ton trailer

We got tired of walking around so went to have a few beers and watch the marching band from the bar.
This Wednesday & Thursday we had our Year Plan Meeting for Forest Fruits at a lodge 50km out of town. The meeting itself was amazing, I was asked to facilitate (which was a good experience) and it was really good to see what everyones ideas were. I think we all left the meeting with enthusiasm and now we have a vision to work towards for the next 12 months.

Vision, ideas, sharing... those are all great, but for sure the best part was seeing everyone again. I have spent just 5 weeks up in Mwinilunga, but while I was there I made friends with the management team and now I realize just how much I missed them. I took some pictures during the breaks and now I'd like to introduce...

The Honey Team




starting with Evans - he was the one who saved me from the red ants


Chiko - knows all 6000 beekeepers and is a madman on the motorbike


Alice - holds down the fort and keeps us from starving.


Matimba - a real sucker for new gadgets (zen being the latest)
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Womba - still giving it 100% at 8 months pregnant!
Mr. Jalata - he is just too nice
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???? - is this guy ever going to cut that hair. ..
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Chris - my pushup buddy who's trying to shift some belly weight into muscle mass



Dan Ball - busy eating and eating before his wife (Barb) returns from Canada


So ya, no picture of Barb, she should be enjoying her time in Algonquin park right about now.


--Insert picture here--


Barb - the mom/nurse to the bunch who keeps us in good health.




We got to see lions, giraffes, elephants, zibras and gazelles all in one hour!


And then before we knew it our 2 days were up.

A great team, a great place and an exciting year to come.