Today’s blog post is from apiculture expert Kris Fricke after his second Farmer-to-Farmer assignment in Guinea, where he provided technical assistance to the Beekeepers Federation in Guinea (FAPI) on modern beekeeping practices and farming as a business:
“It was fun returning to an area I had previously been near and seeing some of the same people. I can tell the relationship feels much more real and solid when I’m not someone they’ll never see again. I am enjoying building on my relationship with FAPI and the FAPI staff. Over the last year I have at numerous times thought about FAPI and how best to help them, and I’m sure I will continue even more so to feel personally committed to this partnership.
Visiting Sanpiring [where the previous volunteer assignment was conducted] and seeing everyone was one of the most joyful things I can remember in a long time. ‘Many people have come here before, but only you have come back,’ they told me.
Saying goodbye [at the end of the assignment] is always hard, but for the first time there was more or less an understanding that FAPI will be having me back next year, so I was able to say ‘I’ll see you next year!’”
Kris manages his own non-profit, Bee Aid International. Read more about his experience in Guinea on his site: http://www.worldbeedev.org/#!Guinea-2015/chor/5600a4f10cf2a7bb74b33a60