The Human Cost of Diamonds

(Editor's Note: This interview appeared originally on ChangeItAll.org.)

Katima Dieudonné (whose name we changed to protect her identity at her request) came from Sierra Leone to the United States in 1996 at age 12. She left a region that supplies a significant number of the world's raw diamonds, and that has been devastated by civil war and forced migration for more than a dozen years. The diamond trade in Sierra Leone and neighboring countries is widely recognized as a bloody business, fraught with violence and corruption that gave rise to the term "conflict diamonds." Hardly any of the proceeds go either to the government or to the bulk of the population.

Dieudonné, 22, talked to ChangeItAll.org about her life in West Africa, her father's involvement in the international diamond trade, and her thoughts about the popularity and politicization of diamonds today.

Justin Warren: Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

Katima Dieudonné: I was born in Sierra Leone, and I grew up, in Guinea, in Conakry (the capitol), West Africa.

When did you move from Sierra Leone to Guinea?

I was a kid. I was probably about 8 or 9. That was when the war started. So, we had to leave. And my dad is from Guinea, so we just went "next door" to Guinea instead, because Sierra Leone was going to have a war.

When you think of that part of your life, are they good memories?

They are. I loved it. I really did. I have very good memories. Because my dad owns a lot of property, he's rich there, and he's like a big person there. So I never had to really suffer anything, well, anything material.

When did you first realize that your father was involved in diamond trading?

I was born when he was already in it. He met my mother in Sierra Leone when he was there [trading]. As a child, I already had brothers and sisters that were way older than me that were already in it. It's always been his job, and it still is.

Did he do "work" around you? Did he go away to trade diamonds, or was it ever around the house or around the neighborhood?

He had an office at the house, and a lot of his customers would come see him there, and when they did, I would be there. I was younger, and I would just run into the office, and I remember the first time I saw diamonds. They were not pretty at all.

What do you remember about seeing diamonds for the first time?

One was black, actually. It looked like rocks. The other ones was really dirty looking. It looked very dirty, very brownish. And they were a bunch of different colors, different shapes.

I never really spoke to my dad [about diamonds]. We never really spoke about things like that. It was just I would do what I was told to do.

Anyway, my mother told me that you had to shape them, and my brother -- my oldest brother -- he started learning how to shape diamonds when he came to the United States: to cut, shape and file them. So that's what he did. And my dad would always try to pull all of my brothers to do the same business he did, but most of my brothers were criminals. They would just come back home and lie, and say the diamonds had dropped out of their pockets. Of course, they would get in trouble. They've been to jail before for that.

Do you know from whom does your dad buy diamonds and to whom does he sell them?

Actually he doesn't buy them, he pays people -- he has diamond diggers. They actually dig the diamonds for him, and then he gets them. He has two brothers that are involved in that group, so he trusts them. They're there with the guys when they dig the diamonds.

And where does he sell them?

Last summer, he was here [in the United States]. And last summer I know he brought some with him to sell. But he lied to us and told us he didn't get any money. But later we found out he did. My mom was really upset.