Rob Bates

"Blood Diamonds" Meets the Street
November 3, 2006

The latest issue of DonDiva magazine, which calls itself "The Original Street Bible," contains an article -- a cover story, no less -- about "blood diamonds" and the current rather dismal state of Sierra Leone.  I couldn't find the article online, but the story is better than its sensationalized cover suggests -- it mentions Kimberley, generally gets its facts straight, and overall does far better than some more respectable publications that have covered this issue. (It does misspell "Kimberley" -- but so did the LA Times.)

My only quibble -- and I feel a little silly arguing with a publication that has a regular feature called "The Sticky Pages" -- is, perhaps to hype things up for its readers, it calls Sierra Leone "one of the most dangerous places on Earth."  Sierra Leone was not dangerous at all. Considering how poor everyone is, it's striking how little crime the country has.  (Though I did get my camera stolen.) It's not a fun place to visit, but definitely an eye-opening one. And apparently Fortune magazine is going there next week.

It will be interesting to see what will happen to Sierra Leone in the wake of the "Blood Diamond" movie. Already, one site has expressed concern. The movie was filmed in Mozambique and South Africa, so it didn't get any revenues from its production. (And to be fair, I don't think Sierra Leone is any shape to handle a movie set.) Obviously, if the film makes consumers clamor for Canadian-mined stones, or not buy diamonds at all, that will hurt the one real industry it has (even if it a totally screwed up one). This film may be something a normal country could work to its advantage, but Sierra Leone is not a normal country.

Along those lines, in the wake of my article about my trip to Sierra Leone and report on the industry there, a lot of readers have asked me how they can help. So I contacted someone who works in Sierra Leone development the best places to give money, and she told me the groups below. These organizations are involved in helping the country through sustainable development – rather than just charity – and they do worthy things like rehabilitate child soldiers.I am including two of these organizations even though I despise their commercials:

Care
Search for Common Ground
Christian Children's Fund
International Rescue Committee

Posted by Rob Bates on November 3, 2006 | Comments (0)