Blood Diamonds

This is 14-month-old Marie Koroma, playing with a marble.

Part of Marie's left arm was cut off by rebels in Sierra Leone when she was 3 months old. Photo by Joe Ledford of the Kansas City Star.

Sierra Leone is a country in West Africa whose most important export is diamonds. Greed and the desire to control this valuable commodity caused civil war to break out in Sierra Leone.

Tactics used in this civil war caused by greed resulted in Marie's amputation. Unfortunately, hers is not an isolated story. Thousands upon thousands of children (and civilian adults) have lost their limbs for the desire to control the diamond trade in Sierra Leone.



Above: Freetown, Sierra Leone: A two-year-old girl who lost her arm when rebels from the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) opened fire on a group of fleeing civilians. The little girl's grandmother, on whose back she was strapped, was killed in the incident.

You might ask, "what can I do to help?"

I'd suggest there are many ways you can help:

1. If you purchase diamonds, make sure you purchase from a jeweler who has joined the Jewelers for Clean Diamond Imports. Click HERE to check the list for a local jeweler.

2. Spread the word about these atrocities--tell everyone you know about what's happening to children in Sierra Leone! The more we learn about the consequences of our purchases, the more we can take action with our wallets.

3. Learn more about the situation in West Africa--go to your local public library, or research on the internet. The following websites may be helpful: Human Rights Watch's "Sierra Leone: A Call for Justice", PBS's "Sierra Leone: Truth and Reconciliation", Amnesty International's "Conflict Diamonds", and The Campaign to Eliminate Conflict Diamonds.

More on "smart purchasing" of products and how you can influence policy to right injustices as a consumer by "voting with your wallet" in upcoming posts.