Hi everyone. I’m a jeweler in Florida, and over the last two years I’ve gotten deeply involved in diamond traceability and understanding more about diamonds coming from Africa. We carry and sell diamonds from Namibia that are blockchain-traced back to their origin, which has made me particularly interested in learning more about what the diamond industry means to the people who actually live there. One thing I’ve noticed is that in conversations here in the West, where most diamonds are ultimately consumed, Africa is constantly brought up. People talk about mining, the history of diamonds, what’s good or bad for African countries and whether natural diamonds benefit the people who live there. But very rarely do I see those conversations include the perspectives of people actually from those countries. I’m not looking for anyone to defend diamonds. I’d genuinely like to hear the good and the bad. What has the diamond industry meant to Namibia? Has it benefited the country and ordinary Namibians? What would you like to see done differently or improved? If you visit communities like r/EngagementRings, r/Diamonds or r/LabDiamonds and search for Africa, Namibia, Botswana or diamond mining, you’ll quickly get a feel for the conversations I’m talking about. They mostly talk up lab diamonds and never what it means to people. And if you feel compelled to add your own perspective to those discussions, positive or negative, I think that would be incredibly valuable. It just seems strange to me that we have so many conversations in the West about what African diamonds mean for Africa without hearing nearly enough from Africans themselves. I’d really like to hear what you think.   submitted by   /u/jrdunnofficial [link]   [comments]