A Taste of Acacia Honey

In December of 2018 Cindy and I entered a small shop in Eldoret, Kenya that sold honey exclusively. I had never been in a honey shop before nor had the thought ever occurred to me that such a place could exist. In the U.S. honey is available in every grocery store, and if you prefer local honey that can be found at the Farmer’s Market or a beekeeper’s local honey stand . When it comes to local honey, they say the nearer the source to your own home the better, because the properties of local honey strengthen the immune system as the local pollens are blended in.

The honey was bottled in various sizes and came at a dear price. We had some converted American currency and yet I found it to be priced higher than I would pay at home. That a Kenyan would sacrifice to buy this and indeed that it is so valued by the town dwellers that it would support it’s own shop, drew my interest. They must know something about honey I hadn’t discovered yet. Wouldn’t it be special to purchase some to bring home? Would it be allowed through customs as an agricultural product? Could I safely pack this in my suitcase so it wouldn’t explode under pressure?

Cindy and I examined the different sizes and we both settled on 300 gram plastic bottles with a spout that twisted open and shut. The label read Acacia Honey from the Kerio Valley of Kenya. During our stay there we had traveled down into the Kerio Valley to visit the 15 acre farm owned by the Assumption Sisters. Along the roadway we spotted many beehives, often hollowed-out logs hanging from trees. Fruits such as oranges and mangoes, tomatoes and papaya were for sale if only we would stop our vehicle. Had the bees in those hives once pollinated that fruit as well? These are the kinds of questions that ran through my head so naturally there. At home when I usually buy honey at the grocery store questions like these never germinate let alone rise into my thought. Kenya is a different kind of place for me in that way. I wonder about things differently, and returning home I want to keep that wondering alive so that I don’t forget Kenya, and don’t forget the reason I went there. I want to remember the children who are in some ways like the bees, a part of making something very precious, something very dear, and something worth sacrificing for. The Acacia Honey is their education in process. They are working on it locally and it will have an effect not only on them but on the health of their families and entire community.

It’s nearly May 2020 and I still have a few tablespoons in the bottle of crystalized Acacia Honey from the Kerio Valley of Kenya. Once in awhile I’ll dip into it, just to taste and remember the experience of being there. I find myself wondering and asking questions about how the” bees” are doing, and rededicate myself to Nyaatha Ray of Hope, because you just never know how lives can be transformed by education, and that can set off a very sweet local chain reaction.

Madeleine Veneklase- President NROH