Tag Archives: OSU Sierra Leone Project

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: CZ’s for me

After spending some time in Sierra Leone Africa I will never look at diamonds in the same way. If you have seen the 2006 movie Blood Diamond you are familiar with the 11 year civil war that in great part was over the control of the small West African nation’s vast natural resources. In the movie, you see a fictionalized account of the very real practice of forcing locals into slave labor to mine diamonds that were then sold on the black market.

It has been referred to as the ‘resource curse;’ nations in the developing world that are exploited for their natural resources. It is certainly nothing new. The Spanish exploration of the new world was in search of wealth while European colonialism across the globe was based on the same model.

Today in Sierra Leone, the civil war is over, yet the conditions in diamond mining areas of Sierra Leone remain bleak. Some of that country’s poorest spend their days mired in the muck hoping to find stones they then, will only be paid the tiniest fraction of their worth.

In today’s video blog, I will show you how a group of Oklahomans are working to improve the lives of orphans from the Blood Diamond Civil War. Work, that if successful, will outshine the sparkle of any stone that has contributed to such suffering.

Rob McClendon

 

Oklahoma Horizon TV

On the Horizon: More Bread and Less Bunting

International development is a tricky endeavor. Stories abound of aid organizations sinking money into projects that are unsustainable once the aid dollars turn off. On my recent trip to Sierra Leone, Africa, I witnessed an entire economy structured around western aid. Not that that the aid is not needed. Still recovering from an 11 year civil war the country is a mess.

So when I traveled there with the Oklahoma City-based non-profit One:Seventeen I was not surprised by what I found. Well intentioned folks doing their best to help. Sure I felt at times we were being shaken down by the leaders of the very organization that we were there to help. Was it all their fault? No. What it was is just the outgrowth of a culture of westerners coming into the developing world throwing around money and giving them what we thought they needed.

So here is how I live with the waste. Much of the money raised in Oklahoma comes from Christian charity. Those who give, I believe, can take solace that while the work they are funding is not perfect it is good. The ol’ don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. I would rather see money wasted everyday feeding hungry children than just building another edifice to our own piety.

So the next time the offering plate comes my way, I know I want my offerings to go for bread and less for bunting. Take a look at what I found in this week’s video blog. I want to know what you think.
Rob McClendon