Sangha of Auspicious Companions

Bare Hands, Bandana, Six Million Bees

Clarence Chua shows up to a bee rescue with nothing but a bandana and bare hands — no suit, no gloves, just attention and respect. In six years, this 42-year-old in Singapore has relocated roughly 6 million bees, one nest at a time, moving entire colonies — queen, workers, larvae and all — to apiaries he manages, including one in his own backyard. Where pest control arrives with chemicals and a stopwatch, Chua arrives with patience, reading the mood of a swarm before deciding whether to suit up at all. He has coaxed bees from a condominium spirit house, from the engine of a grounded airplane, from the hidden corners of a city where almost no one thought to look. Once, misjudging a colony on a high ledge, he was stung a hundred times in thirty seconds — and still returned to the work. “Without bees,” he says, “there will be much less fruit or much more expensive fruit” — a quiet reminder that these small, misunderstood creatures underwrite much of what we eat. His story is less about heroism and more about what becomes possible when a single person decides to pay close attention to a being that many fear or avoid.

Be The Change

Next time you encounter an insect — a bee, a spider, an ant crossing your path — pause for ten seconds and simply watch it move. Let that brief attention be a small act of kinship with the non-human world.