Human Nature, Part 1: the dutch and their diamonds.

I have had a number of things running through my head- so many thoughts over the past couple days, but this is tonights!

I watched "Blood Diamond" for the first time today- no doubt, I'll watch it again sometime, however I am thankful to have read "A Long Way Gone- Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah, before watching the video. The two pieces of media portray a blood-filled, violent and war-stricken land in West Africa- Sierra Leone. Without going into too much depth, I learned in the book about how little boys as young as 8 are trained to kill families and friends, snort brown brown (gun powder and cocaine) and cut hands and arms off of little children and women. From the movie, I came to understand that it is all about greed. The little boys go to war either on the side of the government or the side of the rebels (known as the RUF). The civil war was created because of diamonds- the dutch- and others, but mostly the dutch (crap! Why is it always the dutch?!) "own" the diamonds being mined, and to keep the diamond price high, the large amounts that were being found in Sierra Leone were either being destroyed right on site, or being held in large facilites as safe houses (which were exported via Liberia, through illegal smuggling).

Interestingly enough this is not the first time I heard about the diamonds- when I was doing my placement in England in a drug treatment centre, one of the nurses there was telling me his conspiracy theory that the only reason cocaine isn't legal is because the government doesn't control it. He then went into reasons why drugs can be so expensive blah blah- and we started talking about brown brown and the diamonds. He told me that the civil war was a way to cover up the diamond scandal- but I personally think that the civil war was because the diamonds were being controlled by the dutch, and some people didn't like it, so they rebelled against the government.
And I'm guessing this is why when you read Archie comics, Veronica's rich friends all have dutch last names. It's from the diamonds!

Anyways- if you watched the movie, this is all boring for you, so my point: read the book.The rehabilitation story that Ishmael shares with us is one that will touch your heart Not only will you be thankful for the life you have, it may inspire you to want to do more. To want to serve! Mercy Ships also sends nurses and engineers to Sierra Leone to help with the rehabilitating and rebuilding, so if you are interested, check out their website. They send to different places in Africa as well.

Once a prosperous country, it is now ranked the lowest in the Human Development Index, and is the seventh poorest country in the world. Pray for Sierra Leone. Although they are a democratic country again, their is still unrest.

Thats about it for now. It's not new news for alot of people, but I hope someone became informed! Part 2 will talk what I think about these diamonds, greed and violence etc. And I will definitely be getting into the Word then as well, talking about human nature and some other stuff. But for now:

Gnite!

T.

"It is not a human right to stand our fire while broken nations dream. Open up our eyes so blind that we might find the mercy for their need... It is not to far a cry, to much to try to help the least of these- politics should not decide if we should rise to be Your hands and feet: Hey now, fill our hearts with Your compassion! Hey, now as we hold to our confession: God be the solution."
-Solution, Hillsong United.