Diamond Workers in Kenema

On one of the feeder roads on the way to a village we were tracking down, I spotted a bunch of diamond workers sifting gravel and decided to get out of our car and ask them a few questions.

Labor contracts vary quite substantially among diamond workers, but I think these guys basically were given food from the owner of the land (and holder of the diamond license) in exchange for working (no wage, that's it). If they find a diamond, they get to "sell" it to the owner at a ridiculously low rate (often the equivalent of $200 or $300, depending on quality). Owners, in turn, sell their uncut stones for quite a bit more. I was in a shop that showed me 3-3.5 karat stones, which he said he'd be selling for around $8,000.

I didn't go into this shop, but it's a good example of what diamond trading outfits in Kenema look like. Notice that inviting razor wire.

Politics in Kailahun

I took a few pictures of these SLPP supporters in Boedu, but my driver, Alhaji, told me to put my camera down immediately. Nothing happened, but had I been closer, things might have gotten interesting.

A big orange sign for the PMDC that hangs in one of the larger junctions in Kailahun district. Charles Margai is from Kailahun, I think, and there were many supporters in the area.

An APC supporter who was nice enough to let me take his picture.

A Couple of Villages in Birwa - 6/14

We walked a few miles off the main road to this village in the Birwa Chiefdom, which is located in the northern part of Bombali District.

Several households in these villages were supposed to be interviewed by our enumerators as part of the 2007 National Public Services Survey that I've been helping to run, and we wanted to check up with people here to make sure that they were actually interviewed.

Bureh Town Beach - 6/24

The weather wasn't that great on Sunday, but it made for some dramatic lighting. My friends Neil and Andrew trying to surf (unsuccessfully).

Bureh Town beach doesn't make it into many of the guidebooks on Sierra Leone ... and that's just the way I like it.

Adam (my house-mate) and Kate (a co-worker) catching up on their reading. We were the only people there on Sunday.