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local Tuesday 20 sepTember 2022
Giles Maduro: The ‘bee whisperer’ of Aruba

ORANJESTAD – Around the world, a colony in somebody’s house,
bees are in danger, and Aruba is that has already made wax, he
no exception. But this insect, in- takes the honey and brings some
dispensable for vegetation and to the house’s owner. “We sell that
nature in general has a big ally, to raise funds for the foundation”,
and his name is Giles Maduro (33) Fundacion Proteha Abeha Aruba
of the Fundacion Proteha Abeha – Protect Bees Aruba Foundation.
Aruba, FPAA.
Generally, bees are not aggres-
Giles is known for getting beehives sive. A new queen going out with
out of people’s homes and rescu- her swarm is very calm, because
ing these animals that contribute they are all well fed. When you see
to pollination of plants including a swarm of bees, mostly they are
those that produce food. The in- searching for a home. In that case,
terest that Giles Maduro has for you can approach them without
bees began very early. He always protection on your body or face.
liked nature, inspired primarily by “But there are people who panic
his grandfather Sixto Maduro. Sixto, seeing a swarm of bees arriving at
a fisherman, would regularly take their home. It’s a natural reaction.
his grandson into the mondi – Aru- That’s why we want to emphasize
ba’s wilderness – to explore the lo- more inhabitants, more develop- the house to get the bees out. But that when a swarm of bees ap-
cal nature. And from the moment ment, there is less mondi available nowadays I don’t do it (as much) proaches a home, just stay calm,
when Giles lost his grandfather, for these insects. And with the cli- because I learned that smoke can because they are just going to
through the passing of the years, mate becoming warmer and dry- burn their wings and even their rest. However, when a beehive has
he felt himself called to become er, more and more bees are seek- eyes. So now that I work with bees, existed for a while and they have
a protector of bees, to ensure that ing refuge in residential areas. I know how to give them a better made wax already, you have a
they do not disappear from the The result is that Giles is constantly treatment.” colony which becomes defen-
nature on Aruba, and at the same active removing bee colonies in sive. Then you need to be careful
time, to ensure that Aruba’s nature order to put them in a special box Giles Maduro has two boxes of to not make a lot of noise, don’t
is not lost. “My grandfather would and bring them to a safe place. bees for himself. He doesn’t have walk around with perfume or spray
take us into the mondi and teach more because he lives in a resi- insecticide. All that can trigger the
us about herbs that people use as Giles can be considered self-made. dential neighborhood “and you bees and make them aggressive.”
medicine”, he said. In any case, he finds all necessary cannot have a lot of boxes in a Thus it is recommended to re-
information online and learns by neighborhood, and sometimes move all the wax, the queen and
In 2007, even though Giles was very himself. “I also took a course in Co- bees go crazy”. Giles doesn’t get the bees from people’s home.
young, he decided to focus on lombia, to learn more about bees honey from the bees, because he And how does Giles recognize
working with bees. Before that, his and their life. When you start on doesn’t want to interrupt the natu- the queen? “The bees dance in
interest was in art and photogra- your own, you don’t know much ral process of the bees. “They need a circle. The bees gather around
phy. But why bees? “I felt that I had about new developments. For ex- the wax to eat.” They make this for the queen, and the others begin
to do something for these insects. ample, in the past I used smoke in the colony to survive. But if he finds to walk around the ball of bees to
From a young age I was searching close it more narrowly. The queen
for a purpose. If I do a job, I have to emits a smell to call her bees, an-
do it with love.” Some people feel other smell to signal to attack, and
themselves called to conservation, for the bees to find food.”
for example of rhinoceros. The fight
of activists to try to save the various Many local farmers – known as cu-
species of rhinoceros inspired the nukero – make boxes for bees to
teenager, who began educate live on their land. Giles doesn’t just
himself about the habitat, behav- free the bees anywhere, because
ior and needs of bees in Aruba. the place needs to be green and
“They are the main key for nature fresh and removed from homes.
around the world, and I take it very
seriously.” Bees are in danger because rain
is not falling, there aren’t a lot of
When our reporter met with Giles plants with flowers, and the heat is
Maduro, he had just removed a intense. “We are finding hives that
bee colony from a house, to then simply suffocated or fell into de-
bring to a local farm that belongs pression and they die.”
to an elderly farmer. There he had These days it is extremely hot, which
the opportunity to talk to the gen- means more work, something that
tleman, who wanted to tell him makes Giles happy. His ambition is
about his own work. It was another to stabilize the bee population of
opportunity for Giles to learn from Aruba, and afterwards, share his
his elders and appreciate the work knowledge with the world.
that goes into farming. And it is pre-
cisely here where bees have a very To watch our video about bee-
important role to play. keeping in Aruba, visit our Face-
book page, https://www.face-
He taught himself from very early book.com/arubatoday/vid-
on how to rescue bee colonies eos/1138047229700004 or scan the
which are under stress or have be- QR code.
gun invading houses in Aruba. With