Xhoana’s sweet future

xhoana bee
Wednesday, February 19, 2020

“I do not understand my friends who see their future not in Albania but in emigration. I know that I will make it in my own country and will become a successful engineer. I know that whatever job I do, no matter how much I will make every month, the passion for bees will always be part of my life and my future,” – Xhoana says passionately.

She is only 18 and has just begun her journey to her future, a path she sees clearly, without dilemmas, just as would be normal for any of her peers.

“My dream is to manage a large bee park, here in my village, in Librazhd,” - the 18-year old tells us.

Growing up among bees

For Xhoana, growing up among bees is not a figurative speech; it is her daily life. Her curiosity and desire to explore, know nature and what surrounds her, have always accompanied her since she was little. Her meeting with the sweet world of bees came quite accidentally for her, when her neighbor left the village and left behind one bee that had flown away from the hive.

“Some years ago, one neighbor departed and left behind one bee that had left her hive at a tree nearby. He told my father that if he liked, he could take care of it. I was very curious and from the first moment, I followed my father when he went to the bee every time. Thus, I learned more and more every day. Care for bees is something that attracts me a lot; it’s my biggest passion. When I work with them, I forget the rest of the world…” – she says.

It is a great passion that sweeps and nourishes her every day.

“Even when I go on the internet, I do not look at what happens on social networks, like my peers, but I search and read material that have to do with bees,” – Xhoana admits smilingly.

Sweet even when others are bitter

 “Go, go! Go stay with the bees…”

This is one of the sentences that Xhoana has heard often during her high school years… In many cases, her friends have made fun of her for her great passion, but she never steps back. Bees were her world, accompanying her in parallel with her growth and her dreams of the future.

“They engaged in girl talk, liked to talk about the internet, outer appearance, self-care, and I liked my passion for bees, wanted to talk to them about them, how wonderful they are. I always felt separated and never had much company because girls pushed me away, saying, ‘You only know bees,” – the 18-year old says.

Her great commitment to bees in many cases has made her peers look at her differently, even have prejudice toward her… But, in spite of bitter words that the new beekeeper heard, she did not step back, on the contrary, became even stronger. She says that compared to all other high school students in her village, when the moment came to fill out the application form for university, unlike many peers who were in a dilemma and not well informed about their own path, Xhoana did have a vision.

“I was very clear about my future. I chose to study Environmental Engineering in Tirana. I chose the environment because bees need cleanliness, a clean environment, and that’s why I like this branch,” she admits.

Between university and bees

Xhoana’s hours are now those of a student in Tirana, between the load of lectures and seminars, the pace and daily life of the capital.

“Every weekend, I go back to the village to care for the bees. I will never leave them because, aside from passion, I also see my future linked with them,” Xhoana says.

Sweet future…

Now it has been quite a few years since the first moment she was amazed at bees as a little girl.

Raised in a poor family, where income only came from collecting flowers and selling dry fruit, she made her goal to learn more about bees. That is how she became part of training offered by World Vision and the Beekeepers Association, as part of the Business Facilitation project, so that she and her family could make it.

“I have realized that bees are a source of income for my family. In the past, we only used honey for the family, but now I have learned to be able to manage it as a business. I calculate everything and my father has trusted me with it. I keep all accounts and everything we need for the bees. Now, with World Vision support, we have 5 more hives and, thanks to the trainings, I have much more knowledge and more contemporary tools for collecting honey,” she says, while also being the initiator of a group of young beekeepers in the village she lives in.

“I identified a group of youth in the area who could be potential beekeepers like me. I knew my friends and although they had prejudice toward me, I knew who had the qualities for commitment to bees, who was responsible. Now, we have the group of young beekeepers in the area and I lead it. We participate in training and in some of them, I also share my experience,” she notes.

“It does not matter where I will go to learn more; I will always come back to the bees, to my village…” – are the words of an 18-year old who does not see her future in the city or the capital, nor in emigration, but in her village in Librazhd, where bees buzz and her heart beats. 

During the past 20 years, World Vision trained 2,535 farmers on improving their small family businesses.