On October 21st 2005 the Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation will launch the photo exhibition Diamond Matters in the Watervall Mall in Rustenburg. People from the extractive industry, local government officials and other business people from Rustenburg will be invited at the opening ceremony.
Diamond Matters follows the route of a diamond; from Africa via India to the West. It shows the dangerous alluvial mining in Sierra Leona, the poor working conditions of the diamondcutters in Surat, the jewish traders in Antwerp and finally the rich customers in cities like New York and Amsterdam.
The pictures show the public the different sides of a diamond. We all know the glitter and glamour in Western countries, either from movies or real life. On the other site of the world these precious stones are not so glamourous at all. The minors in African countries like Sierra Leone, Angola en Democratic Republic of Gongo, often do dangerous work. In muddy rivers and pools they dive for rough diamonds, not realizing these small stones will be worth a fortune. Far away from home the only thing they get is a small salary.
Dates and places of the exhibition Diamond Matters travels all over the world to raise awareness on the relationship between luxury products on the one hand and international trade and human rights on the other hand. Besides the official opening in Amsterdam, it has already been in Angola, Belgium, Democratic Republic of Congo, France, Germany and Sierra Leone.
From October 21st to 31st Diamond Matters will be shown in the Watervall Mall in Rustenburg, reaching approximately 100.000 people. From there on the exhibition will be moved to the local library, where many students come. In November the Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation exhibits Diamond Matters during the annual meeting of the Rustenburg Association of Business.
For more information on Diamond Matters in Rustenburg, please contact: Christine Delport, Greater Rustenburg Community Foundation, christine@grcf.co.za