Some Diamonds Really Do Cost An Arm And Leg

Guns, blood. Victims, war. This is a common sight for the people of Africa with the disastrous civil war that has long ago begun terrorizing the continent. Children, as young as age six, are taken from their families to train for combat. Many are forced to kill their own families, by way of gunshot, as a proof of loyalty to the threatening military. As Americans, we find these acts to be inhumane and sickening. The only problem is, we are funding this war. Some of us out of ignorance, others because of the absurd mentality consisting mostly of the thought “It doesn’t affect me directly or my family, so I really don’t care.” The point being, diamonds are the root of the financial support of weapons in Africa. To put it in plain terms, whenever a hand is accepted in marriage, another hand is just removed. From its arm. Lovely, isn’t it?

Blood diamonds are diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments to fund military action in opposition to those governments. In Angola and Sierra Leone, blood diamonds continue to fund rebel groups. The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are both fighting horribly against the reign of their government.

"It has been said that war is the price of peace... Angola and Sierra Leone have already paid too much. Let them live a better life", Ambassador Juan Larrain

To extract these diamonds from filthy riverbeds, the UNITA and RUF use slavery. Slavery of their own people, the ones they are trying to ‘help’ by bringing in a new government. Define irony. These men work from sun-up to sun-down bent over muddy water with nothing more than their hands and simple sifters to find our precious diamonds. They are in risk of serious diseases, and many die of infections or simply exhaustion. This is the strategy of the RUF and UNITA. They wear down these men to their very core, so that they don’t even consider escape, they just obey. No food is allowed while working.

If a watchman catches anyone eating, they are immediately shot to death. Just over some stale bread. To prevent the laborers from stealing diamonds, by hiding them in their clothes or mouths, the RUF and UNITA will cut a hand or arm off their slaves. If a person is accused of stealing, that man has literally moments to produce the supposedly stolen diamond to the watchman. If you don’t, you are shot. They don’t care if you did steal the diamond or not, it’s really all the same to them. And so the cycle continues. The laborers are never free. They live their lives in torment, watching their kinsmen die unfairly or risking it all just to smuggle away just one diamond.

The one diamond that would bring his family back from ruin, that would cease all worry for the rest of his life. One to zero men ever accomplish this enormous feat, even though they handle hundreds of diamonds daily. It’s like handing a man who has been in the desert for weeks a glass of water and saying, “Drink that, and die.” Would you rather die with a sip of water in your throat, or live in a cycle of misery? It’s the same for the African slaves.

Although the United Nations are putting all sorts of embargoes against the purchase of these ‘Conflict Diamonds’, they still get through to our very innocent-looking jewelry shops. The way to stop the funding of the RUF and UNITA weapon effort? Don’t buy any diamond jewelry. Go for the identical imitations, or Swarovski crystals. No one will ever know the difference. But if you are a true-blue diamond lover, buy No-Conflict diamonds. Ask the jeweler for the certificate of authenticity promising that the diamond you are about to buy for yourself or loved one is not covered in human blood.

There is plenty of information on this, if you only do your part to research before you buy. It's really not that difficult. With all the ‘high speed’ Internet in our nation, it would take two minutes tops. Seriously. But the best way to fight the civil war, violence, abuse, and blood diamonds is simply to tell people about it. When we see our friends and family, we usually chat about television shows or other random things, so why not take five minutes to inform our friends about this huge problem and urge them to just check where their jewelry comes from, from now on? You don’t even have to talk much if you are shy, just show them this article and it will do the trick. How long has it really taken you to read this? And, by now, you are a better human being for it.

The best way to help fight the war in Africa (not literally of course) is by word of mouth. Education. With knowledge all things are possible, and know you hold the key to help stop the horrible injustice in Africa that is going on right now, as you are reading. Has the price of beauty finally become too high? You be the judge.

"Diamonds are forever it is often said. But lives are not. We must spare people the ordeal of war, mutilations and death for the sake of conflict diamonds". - Martin Ayafor