That’s what they say, anyway. I guess I tend to believe it, too! I’ll come back to this later, but first…
Somehow, I have found myself already 2 and a half weeks into this new degree program. I have three lectures a week, each two hours long. Then there are all the interesting seminars and workshops in between, not to mention spending time with friends! But really, I spend the majority of my time reading – about 80-100 pages per class per week. In fact, I’m taking a quick break from those readings to write this out. But let’s get back to that business of doing what you love…
I’m currently in the middle of some readings for my class about mineral extraction in Africa, and if you have spent any amount of time in my presence since about February last year, you know how much I care about this topic. It seems like everyone else on my course chose Displacement and Development for their elective, but I’ll take miners over refugees just about any day (sorry, Syria!). I’m sure it says a lot that I show up for this 9AM lecture every week beaming and ready to go – but anyways. The article I’m reading right now is about conflict resources, and specifically about tanzanite (a gem that is only found in one 12 sq. km area near Mt. Kilimanjaro).
It’s a very pretty and very rare gem, and not one most people would automatically associate with conflict. But here’s the deal – although it was proven not to be funding Al Qaeda (long story!), there are a whole host of human rights abuses that occur around its extraction. The corporation that controls the area has been known to lock trespassers inside shipping containers and even to kill them on sight. Meanwhile, small scale miners are relying on child labor and other dangerous illegal behaviours. And all within the last 20 years, when we sort of expect this type of action to be on the decline.
Reading this makes my blood boil. I spent three months working in a mining multinational trying to ensure that these sorts of abuses don’t occur around their properties. Other companies are making strides in the same direction. There is no reason a resource needs to have the “conflict” label attached to it before steps are taken to mine ethically!
But the fact that this topic has already come up reminds me that I am studying exactly what I love. It may make me angry on a pretty regular basis, but that’s just a sign that there’s a job for me to do on the other end of this degree. Here’s hoping it doesn’t feel like work when I get there.
International Development...Internationally 