The sweetest road to success

It is fall harvest time, when 34-year-old mother of four Amartuya becomes busy as a bee!

Preparing the bees for winter hibernation, she makes more than 500 litres of sugar syrup to provide for 40 hives of bees. Amartuya’s mother, sister, and brother-in-law come from nearby villages, to give her a hand in the preparation. Once she feeds the bee with syrup and insulates the beehives, she waits next March until the snow starts to melt and flower booms.

Amartuya and her husband Burensaikhan, with their four children, live in Dulaankhaan village located in Selenge province of Mongolia.

Just four years ago, the family used to live a nomadic lifestyle of keeping livestock. When their children reached school age, they moved to a village near school.

Due to job scarcity in small rural town, the family struggled to find a job and make a living. That’s when they heard about World Vision’s beekeeping project.

World Vision’s beekeeping project aims to boost economic resilience, and diversify income generation opportunities for poor rural households. Historically a beekeeping town, Dulaankhaan village’s beekeeping industry fell down after the economic downturn in early 90’s.

"Now that our life condition has gotten better, I am investing more to my children’s education." - Amartuya

With help of World Vision, now the industry is getting back on feet, with more than 230 households whom benefited from the project continuing the village’s main production successfully.

Learning the basics of beekeeping, Amartuya first received five beehives, and started to sell the honey she got from bees. She started to participate in “Moving forward together” exhibition that support local small-scale businesses, improving her income gradually. In just few years, she has mastered the skill of beekeeping, and has now become one of very few people in Mongolia who breeds queen bees.

“My life has improved significantly. We even bought a new house and small truck and it’s all thanks to beekeeping!” shares Amartuya smiling.

With a steady income, Amartuya’s husband Burensaikhan, a self-taught musician, was able to enroll in a distance learning program to earn his degree in Music teaching. Burensaikhan is now music teacher at Dulaankhaan village school, where he teaches music theory and Mongolian traditional instruments.

“Now that our life condition has gotten better, I am investing more to my children’s education,” Amartuya says. Her eldest two daughters 10 year-old Enerel, and 8 year-old Achidmaa goes to traditional instrument clubs, learning horse-headed-fiddle and dulcimer, in addition to dance club.

Thanks to World Vision’s donation of musical instruments to the school’s music room, the children are now able to learn various musical instruments, developing their talents. Enerel is not only talented musician, but also she is an avid reader and became the best student who read the most books in her school.

Bees are amazing insects: they work hard and produce sweet and healthy food for us. Keeping bees, Amartuya became hardworking person like a bee, which resulted in an amazing success that lifted her family out of poverty.