Indigenous women save the sacred Mayan bee

The Mayan women of the Yucatán Peninsula have quietly cared for the melipona bee — the stingless bee that their ancestors considered a gift from the gods. Today, that silence was broken in a way none of them could have imagined: their voices and knowledge have reached screens around the world through Secrets of the Bees, a National Geographic documentary.

Among the voices that bring this production to life are women beekeepers from the Yucatán Peninsula who participate in Educampo's En Pro de la Mujer program. Women who learned to install a jobón, the ancestral Mayan hive carved from a hollow log, to feed and divide hives, to care for these small guardians of biodiversity — and who are now recognized by the world for what they have always been: experts.

The melipona bee faces a threatened future due to deforestation, climate change, and the use of pesticides. The women who care for them face their own threats too: rural communities with few opportunities, no access to financing or training. Yet they are the ones keeping an ancient tradition alive and, with it, the pollination of an entire region.

Thanks to your support, these women are not only protecting the sacred Mayan bee — they are building rural businesses, generating income for their families, and bringing their knowledge to the place it has always deserved: the center of the conversation.

Secrets of the Bees is available on Disney+.