Water had always been scarce in the tsavorite-mining township of Kamtonga in Kenya. When tanks were empty due to low rainfall, villagers traveled several kilometers to fetch water from a source surrounded by wild animals. Not only was the process hazardous, but the water was severely contaminated, causing terrible outbreaks of dysentery and disease in the community of around 3,000 villagers.
Charitable organization Gems Keep Giving (GKG) approved a plan to provide the community with a reliable supply of safe drinking water by drilling a well on the village school’s grounds. The objective was to improve the villagers’ well-being and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural activities. The Kamtonga community embraced the project — which began in 2022 and was complete within 12 months — by helping the local engineering firms that the GKG committee hired dig the well and do the infrastructure work.
Water is now flowing. The children, who were often too sick to attend school, can enjoy their education in good health, as instances of waterborne diseases have diminished. The students and their families have learned agricultural techniques, and the new school garden provides fresh produce for the kids’ lunches and the local community.
The initiative “has not only changed lives, [it has] saved lives,” says GKG vice chair Damien Cody. “It is an excellent example of how the gem and jewelry industry can make a lasting positive impact on the lives of artisanal miners.”
Expert input
GKG began in 2020 as an initiative of the International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA), and secured its status as an independent, not-for-profit charitable organization last year. Cody’s fellow elected board members include Hayley Henning, Clement Sabbagh, Ruth Benjamin-Thomas, Brian Cook, Rocco Gay, Cecilia Gardner, Robert Weldon and Henry Ho.
These experts bring together a wide range of experience in mining-community efforts, gem faceting, marketing, and other disciplines. GKG chair Henning says the organization “purposely aligned [itself] with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations — specifically to help eradicate poverty, hunger, and gender-equality disparities, to help with clean water and sanitation, and [aid in] good health initiatives.”
GKG is inviting gemstone communities to apply for funding under specific guidelines. “Projects funded by Gems Keep Giving must support and benefit people in communities who are engaged in colored-gemstone mining and cutting activities, and must demonstrate a lasting benefit to the community and families where the project will be implemented,” Henning explains.
Increasing output
The organization’s latest project — and its first as a nonprofit — started on December 20, 2024: bringing critical health and safety equipment to the Novo Horizonte artisanal mining community in Bahia, Brazil. The underground hard-rock miners of golden rutilated quartz will receive quality life-saving dust masks.
Working directly with the community ensures the project’s success, Henning says. “We are using the same strategy as the Kamtonga project, providing the masks directly to the miners’ cooperative and partnering with the municipal secretary of health to create an educational course for the miners about the causes, danger, and [prevention of] silicosis.”
Beyond improving work and life conditions for the miners, the GKG board wants to raise consumer awareness about the reality of mining communities. Most fine-jewelry buyers don’t know that 80% of colored gems are mined artisanally, nor do they know their sourcing conditions, Henning says. “Our goals include sharing the heartwarming success stories, which will also entice buyers, driving business and desirability.”
Each GKG-backed project is a win-win, she stresses: It helps miners continue to work and generate income, and provides the industry with the gems that will drive businesses.
“Being able to support these communities gives our industry a level of substance that is sometimes missing in luxury goods that don’t serve a real purpose beyond a material possession,” she says.
As a part of its fundraising activities, GKG has created the Display of Generosity pin, a collaboration between lapidary company Petramundi and high-jewelry designer Margherita Burgener. The 10 one-of-a-kind pins — each centering a heart-shaped stone with a distinct color and origin — were handcrafted in Vicenza, Italy. The group will award them to its top 10 donors at the ICA Congress in Brazil this May.
Main image: Children in Kamtonga now benefit from clean drinking water thanks to a well-drilling project on their school premises. (Gems Keep Giving)
