Blood Diamond: A Diamond in the Hand and related media

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Blood Diamond: A Diamond in the Hand (2:12)

Blood Diamonds takes a closer look at the mining conditions of conflict diamonds.

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-Soon after diamonds were discovered in Africa in the 19th century, a business empire would be created. It would begin when a fortune's worth of diamonds was found on land owned by two unsuspecting farmers. Today, even in the absence of conflict, Sierra Leone's diamonds are pulled from the earth under primitive conditions. -The mining conditions are awful. People dig in the hot sun all day long often up to their waist in filthy water. There's no social cohesion. There's a lot of violence. These mining areas are great vectors for malaria, for HIV aids, for all kinds of societal problems. -This is not industrial mining. Miners rely on simple tools, a shovel and a sifter. -A typical day for a diamond miner begins at sunrise when they've been hiking usually before dawn from their village to the pit where they're working that day and it ends at sunset. -It's back-breaking work mostly done by those on society's edge. -A lot of people get into diamond mining because they don't have any alternatives. Sierra Leone is a very poor country and Sierra Leone- the average income is about a dollar a day. -But just as gamblers, most are spurred by the belief that sooner or later, they will unearth a valuable stone. -God hasn't given me the big one yet, the big one that would make me be in a position to help my family. -It's a casino economy. Everybody thinks they're going to find the big one but of course, out of the 180,000 diggers, hardly anybody ever does find the big one.

Please note: This is an automated transcript and may contain transcription errors.

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