When you look into the face of a young child in Africa, you should be able to see the future of a better world. Some may affirm it takes a village to raise a child. Yet for many reasons today in Africa, it takes a child with a good education, nutrition, health care and development opportunities to raise a village, a nation and a continent out of poverty and disease.
Respected African leaders like former South Africa President Nelson Mandela, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Festus Mogae of Botswana and many others have expressed concern about the current wave of misinformation in public discourse with respect to the issues of diamonds from Africa. In a letter to Warner Brothers and to “Blood Diamond” movie director Ed Zwick, Nelson Mandela cautioned, “It would be deeply regrettable if the making of the film inadvertently obscured the truth, and, as a result, led the world to believe that an appropriate response might be to cease buying mined diamonds from Africa.” He added, “We hope that the desire to tell a gripping and important real life historical story will not result in the destabilization of African diamond producing countries, and, ultimately their peoples.” We concur with Mr. Mandela.
Sincerely,
Russell Simmons and
Dr. Benjamin Chavis
Until reading this I thought the only way to help those hurt by the diamond industry was to boycott them altogether. Now I know that I can buy myself jewelry and donate money to the cause at the same time.
Available at Zales....full letter here
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