We have been partners with Gem Legacy since before their official founding in the autumn of 2018. In 2018, Melissa traveled to Tanzania and Kenya to visit gem miners and see their operations first hand. There she visited the Mwtate Children's Home, the Arusha Gem Faceting School, and the Precious Women's Mine, which employs widowed women.
The Arusha Gem Faceting School trains young adults the trade of gem cutting. This skillset is sorely needed. Most African-mined gems are shipped to other countries for faceting, taking much of their finished value out of their origin countries. Training Africans to cut gems closer to the source will help distribute the profits of the supply chain more equitably, and allow African artisanal miners to reinvest in their communities as they so want to do.
Steve Quick Jeweler provides scholarships to the Arusha Gem Faceting School. We also provide scholarships, clothing and support to the Mwtate Children's Home and sponsor meals for the students at the Kitarini School.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been very hard on artisanal mining communiities. Demand for color gemstones has been reduced, and their communities are suffering from both isolation and illness. Providing support to those communities during the pandemic has been very important. SQJ ensured all of the miners and their families from four separate mines had sufficient food throughout the month of December, 2020.
The jewelry industry benefits so much from the beauty and economic benefit of gemstones mined in Africa. It is only right that we do everything we can to support the communities at the beginning of our supply chains, and work to create equitable wealth distribution throughout.
You can be part of this story too! If you love and wear color gemstones, or simply want to contribute to the wellbeing of artisanal miners, their families, and communities, you can donate here.