The Savvy Villa Traveller

I don’t know about you but I am overwhelmed with mail – junk mail. My neighbor went to Italy for two weeks. I got more mail in three days than she got in two weeks. At this point, most mail does not get read. If it looks like a bill that I am expecting or a letter from someone I know, fine. Other than that it is 99% sure to end up in the trash. Sorry to all the people who waste their money sending me unsolicited mail. Not only do I have to sort the mail, but, since I’m paranoid about identity theft, I shred anything with my address or any sensitive info before I place it in the trash. Yes, I do shred. When I first heard of shredding the mail, I thought it was loco, sheer paranoia. I stand corrected. If you have ever met anyone who was a victim of identify theft, you would shred too. The problem with all this mail is that it takes up a lot of my precious time! I heard about the National Do Not Mail List. What’s the problem? Well I don’t know anyone who signed up with them. How do I know it isn’t a scam? Ok, maybe now I’m getting too paranoid. Oh, what to do, what to do.

Well, it depends. At any rate don’t change too much of your money into Jamaican currency. Unless you are buying groceries, the “best” and most widely accepted money to have is the US dollar. Most tours and entrance fees are in US dollars. Tips are expected in US dollars or British pounds. Smaller establishments are less comfortable with the Euro. ATMs are widely available. Debit and credit cards are accepted at many places.

Did you see the movie? If you haven’t, you should. I haven’t met one person who has seen the movie who hasn’t been moved by it. Well, maybe not moved to the point of never buying another diamond but at least being more mindful before buying a diamond.

So what are blood diamonds – no they aren’t rare red diamonds. They are also known as conflict diamonds which the UN formally defines as “diamonds that originate from areas controlled by forces or factions opposed to legitimate and internationally recognized governments, and are used to fund military action in opposition to those governments, or in contravention of the decisions of the Security Council.” Often major human rights violations occur in the mining and processing of these diamonds. The poor people of the country get abused and down-trodden while rebels and savvy business people profit. Rebels get money to carry on their illegal reigns of terror. Business people make millions.

A process called the Kimberley Certification Scheme, established in 2003, was designed to certify the origin of diamonds in order to ensure that they are from conflict-free countries. The goal of the process is to prevent these “blood diamonds” from entering the main stream market thereby preventing groups at war from using diamond sales to finance their wars. Several countries are participants in the scheme including the USA.

Some human rights groups such as Amnesty International aren’t so thrilled with the Kimberley scheme as they feel that it doesn’t go far enough. For example, there is no way of ensuring that jewelers only sell diamonds which have been Kimberley certified. Additionally, being the cynic that I can sometimes be, it is hard to know to what degree we can trust the authenticity of the certification paperwork. What’s to prevent a little palm greasing to create fake documents and so forth?

Of course, you can imagine that De Beers, the world’s largest diamond producer, is in a tissy over this mess as they worry that the popularity of the movie will affect the diamond business. They claim that only 1% of retail diamonds are blood diamonds while other sources suggest the number may be 8% or more.

Is the answer to stop buying diamonds? Tough question. I don’t think so. In some areas, diamond mining provides jobs for many people – granted not high paying jobs; but, nevertheless jobs so they can feed their families. Take a country like Botswana for example. They have seen positive economic growth over the years and this is largely because of their diamond and other mining industries. And, they produce conflict free diamonds. Why punish them?

The idea is to not buy conflict diamonds. The problem is you can’t always tell if they are or not. And that is the disturbing part. What can you do? Before you buy a diamond, ask the store about their policy on conflict diamonds or about the Kimberley process. Also, ask to see the warranties and guarantees for the diamonds. If they don’t know what you are talking about or get testy with you, or refuse to show you the warranties, take your business elsewhere. And, tell all your friends not to buy from them.

If I haven’t convinced you that this is something to take seriously, see the movie. Rent it from your favorite video store. Do a search for “blood or conflict diamond” on the internet. Then let me know what you think. Take a stand. Do you want to feel good about your fabulous diamonds or do you want to live with the weight of thousands of lives pressing on your finger? Think about it. Let’s make a difference.

Click here to learn more about blood diamonds.