The Maiti hospice is in a lovely setting in the eastern Terai, a band of flat land that spreads along the southern border of Nepal with India. There are many tea plantations (not ideal bee forage!), interspersed with bee-friendly arable crops, which include mustard, buckwheat, betel nut, mango, guava, coconut and banana trees. The local villagers have kitchen gardens that produce beans, tomatoes plus a selection of the above. The girls at the hospice have also been encouraged to plant lychees and sesame to increase the year-round bee forage potential.

Some of the girls and young women who live at the hospice have endured horrific ordeals in the brothels and have both physical and mental problems to overcome, so looking after the beehives provides new interest and helps them communicate with the other girls and training staff. For many reasons, once the girls are settled at the hospice they tend to remain within its grounds. Beekeeping provides not only additional nutrition but also something to do as an occupation.

A quick check of the colony!

Setting up a hive

 Laxmi with a new hive - April 2003

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