Diamonds, the hardest and most precious stone, a traditional symbol of love and beauty, they
come to us at great cost.
I look for diamonds for good 15 years. I've never gotten nothing yet. Still struggling.
Really, they did not fulfill their promise. They just let the ponds open.
And this piece serves as the trap for people in the community.
Since the 1930s, when diamonds were discovered in Sierra Leone, there has been a steady exploitation
of this resource. In the diamond-rich regions, most notably Kono and the East, men from all
over West Africa continue to pour in the seeking of fortune, and everywhere one sees evidence
of the diamond industry.
Now if you go around the districts where mining takes place, you see many open pits, and this
piece serves as their trap for people in the community. Because after the mining has went
on and people have deserted the mining pits, they will not reclaim the land. They will
leave it. Children will drown. Mosquitoes will breathe from there and they will cause different
sicknesses. And the water, the water will be polluted because some people will not have
any good water source.
It is not my own will to do this hard work. Because in Africa, as far as Sierra Leone
is concerned, we have no employment. Unless sometimes I walk, get a small diamond, go
and sell, get a little money, go and feed myself.
Since last year to now, this global, national global, affected dramatically the diamond
industry. And there is a sharp drop, if not 50 to about 60 percent of the value of diamonds
dropped down.
A past tense demo was in this land much, but for now, that might hardly get him.
We have a lot of problems with land. They are not a lot of arable land for agriculture.
And we say it's necessary to reclaim this land so that people can engage in agricultural
processes.
The day before we started our reclamation last week, there was someone who actually drowned,
a child who drowned in one of the pits right in this area. So it goes to show that, yeah,
there's another side benefit to this, because kids drown in these pits all the time.
We are fining them. We are fining them because we have a culture now. We have to suffer this
job.
All of them are working because there is no job. If there is no factory, we are not working.
We are not working.
We are not working.
This country Sierra Leone used to be a net exporter of food. The slaves who were taken
from Sierra Leone were taken because they were such experts in rice cultivation. This
was called the rice coast and they were taken to the Carolinas. Used to be the country was
flooded, still is to some extent, with subsidized and imported foodstuffs, which really undermine
local agriculture. The onions are from Holland, subsidized. The rice is from the USA, Thailand,
subsidized. No farmer can compete against that. So now with the rising prices, there's even
more impetus for people to get back to their farms and start producing for themselves.
Every year there is a hunger season, usually for two to three months. People don't have
rice. They often have sweet potato and cassava, but this is not really the main food. It would
be like eating snacks instead of dinner. The reclamation of land, we consider this a very
high priority. Land left unreclaimed normally has very little value and over time degenerates
further. The company has just devastated this land and just left the land in the west. If
they come back to reclaim the land, we'll be very happy. But I don't think because it
has taken years. But I think it has not been in the license act that they should refill
the lands again. So in that vein, I think there was a little mistake from the government.
It was not part of their responsibility. So that is why when they come, they just remove
the diamonds and go back. So the campaign for just mining is here to really
advocate for these companies and government to put pressure on these companies so that
they can implement some of these documents, to let them know about mining laws, mining
principle, mining policies, mining acts, because without people not knowing about those documents,
knowing about their rights, what they are entitled to, they will be just there in the
dark. They won't have any benefit from what is on their lands.
We're going to meet with the Paramount Chief, Buna. He has access to a bulldozer that one
of the mining companies that's working in his area has loaned him. And we've been discussing
with the same mining company for quite a while about using that same machine because they
helped us out last year. So we'll see what the Chief has to say if there's some availability.
If not, we'll just go ahead with the reclamation as planned by hand. Keynesay has done amazing
things by hand so far. So Bandify has got a bit of a head start because last year they
managed to reclaim about six acres. So we'll just see what happens today.
Last year the land we offered was 10.8 acres. And only 5.8 was reclaimed. And now we are
planning, they came again, we are planning to redeem the rest of the land. Since the
company that offered all the bulldozer, they are now on the bank of DeFonking. So we told
them that we should meet you and they will negotiate so that you'll render us the bulldozer
again so that they remain in land we're claiming in.
So you can still follow the old format and then we'll still go through the previous memorandum.
Diamonds are one of the least destructive extractives since the land is not actually
polluted but moved and can therefore be moved back and easily recovered with enough political
will and enforcement of corporate social responsibility principles.
We want to put rice there and in the area that it is high up, we want to put cassava.
And for in the world like how they show the meat, how they prepare, how they work, and
to earn, this is how we do it.
We much taste here.
Yes, now we serve food, now we put food.
You said Chinese rice is not blue, we said now we put it like this.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put it in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
Now we put the rice in the pot.
