Sixth form students from a North East school will travel to South East Africa in July this year, to assist in the process of providing a sustainable future for businesses in the poverty stricken country of Malawi.

As part of their ongoing studies into global environmental issues, the pupils, from Grindon Hall Christian School in Sunderland, are set to play an essential part in redesigning the untenable methods currently used by Malawian honey farmers.

Carol Johnson, Deputy Head of Grindon Hall Christian School, says: “At the moment, beekeeping in Malawi involves chopping down a whole tree to hollow it out for bees. When the bees have produced the honey, the swarm is destroyed.

“This is not good because not only are trees being needlessly destroyed, there are also not enough bees for good crop production as they are needed for pollination.”  

Together with two bee-keeping experts, the team of pupils and teachers will travel to four Malawian villages, where they hope to introduce a cost-effective way of making bee hives and associated equipment out of locally available materials, such as discarded plastic bags, bamboo and palm leaves.

Carol Johnson says: “We also intend to help start a tree nursery and promote planting fruit trees indigenous to the area as a cash crop. As a result of our actions we hope the Malawi people will be able to sell the fruit and honey products, and harvest wood through coppicing.”

The pupils are currently raising money for the trip through activities such as bag packing in supermarkets, and concerts in school. They have also received support from the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC), a business support organisation based in Sunderland.

Paul McEldon, Chief Executive at the North East BIC, says: “We are committed to supporting all entrepreneurial activity in the region, particularly when actions can be beneficial from a social and economic perspective.

The commitment of the pupils to bring sustainable futures to these villages in Africa is an inspiring example of this, and I’d urge other local businesses to lend their support to the project.”