Raymond Worms rebuilds life through beekeeping after electrical accident

Raymond Worms is rebuilding his life through beekeeping after a serious electrical accident while working with JPS contractors left him without his hands and forced him to learn a new way of living.

Worms said the accident happened while he was climbing a utility pole to help straighten a light for a community centre. He remembers hearing a crowd and then finding himself hanging upside down before waking to the sight of the ground. He said about 4,000 volts passed through his body.

He spent about two to three weeks in hospital and said he asked to be discharged even though he was not yet considered ready to leave. At first, he resisted the idea of losing his arms, but said the condition of his hands later made him accept the surgery. He recalled leaving hospital with only five fingers remaining, including one that had been badly burned.

To cope, Worms said he trained his mind to treat the experience as if it were a dream, saying the stress alone could have destroyed him. He also spoke about earlier hardship, including being shot at about age 15.

His beekeeping journey began after he received wood and bee boxes from his uncle. He passed about 19 or 20 boxes to a friend, who later gave him a box of bees after the accident. Worms said he kept splitting and growing the colonies until the apiary expanded.

The operation is built largely from discarded materials. Scrap boards, old windows, zinc, aluminium and used furniture are turned into bee boxes and tops. He buys some white boxes, but makes many of the brown ones himself.

Worms said his honey production has grown from a few quarts at first to about 16 quarts last year, though he must pay someone with an extractor. With his own extractor, he believes he could reap four or possibly five times a year.

He said beekeeping carries risk and does not bring quick money, but described it as steady work. His goal is to invest more, develop a bee shop, operate an apiary in the hills and sell bee supplies.