Meet Matteo the Mona Monkey.
Profits from the sale of Matteo will go towards the fantastic Bees Abroad Organisation who mentor and train beekeeping co-operative groups, creating opportunities, generating income and protecting the environment all over the world.
 
So why Monkeys?
 
Matteo is inspired by the 700 hundred Mona and Colobus Monkeys living in the Boabeng-Fiema Monkey Sanctuary in Ghana.
Continuing in our support for the charity 'Bees Abroad' we have been following an ongoing project supporting the communities around the monkey sanctuary.
These monkeys are thankfully considered sacred and are therefore, not hunted in this area. Unfortunately this does mean that the damage and theft of food crops sometimes causes significant issues for the local subsistence farmers reducing food security and cash incomes. 
In October 2019, 35 beekeepers were trained, 65 beehives sited and the project has gone from strength to strength, weathering bushfire due to an extensive dry season and “distance learning” due to Covid 19. The groups have successfully harvested meaningful amounts of wholesale honey and sold it for realistic market prices. This improves their ability to school their children, pay for health insurance, pay medical bills, repair their houses and so on. Not only that but the pollination from the bees has improved crop yields in the local area also.
This supportive project helps humans, bees and monkey all in one amazing swoop!