Workers and Working COnditions
Who are the Workers?
Like any other workers in the world, diamond workers earn money to buy food and survive. The age range of workers goes down to the age of kids who shouldn't even be working and should be in school. For Mbuyi Mwanza, a fifteen year old who works in a mine, he chose working in the mine to earn money over education. Education requires money to attend school but food also requires money. His father is blind and requires medicine, while his mother left them years ago. To survive and help his father, he must work. In his town, the only work available is mining. He is not the only child in his town, let alone the world, who was forced to choose work over school (Baker).
What are the Working Conditions Like?
Working in mines is hard labor. The mortality rate is high, the pay is low, and the hours are long. Many of the people in the mines have to search for the diamonds with their hands, digging and sifting with hand-held sieves. The chance of a mining tunnel collapsing is high, which could lead to many deaths. In some places, so many tunnels collapsed that they were rarely reported. In the Kangambala mine, people aren't paid for their labor, they are only paid for the diamonds they find. The rate is 30%. While the mine owner gets 70% of the diamond, from there, the remainder 30% is split among the miners. The working hours at the Kangambala mine are nine grueling hours starting at 9 a.m and ending at 6 p.m (Baker).
"'It's a scandal,' says Zacharie Mamba, head of the Tshikapa's mining division. 'We have so much wealth, yet we stay so poor. I can understand why you Americans say you don't want to buy our diamonds. Instead of blessings, our diamonds bring us nothing but misfortune'" (Baker).
Will a Boycott Help?
Mbuyi, the child miner, and Albert Kiungu Muepu, who is the head of a mining division, argue that boycotting won't help the miners. "If people stop buying our diamonds, we won't be able to eat. We still won't be able to go to school. How does that help us?" Mbuyi points out. Albert adds onto this idea by saying, "If those want to do good stop buying our diamonds, rest assured, Congo still loses. The way to better conditions in Congo is to help us better our system so that the resources generated by Congo can profit Congo" (Baker).
