Why are you going to Sierra Leone?

It's a common question these days... so I thought I'd provide a little explanation. Lets start with what we'll be doing there... in later blogs I'll explain, "How we chose Sierra Leone"... and "Why Sierra Leone is significant."

So... Sam (my husband) and I will be traveling first to London to meet with DeBeers (one of the largest diamond companies in the world and the assumed "villain" in the movie "Blood Diamond"). It's important to note that DeBeers does not nor has ever mined in Sierra Leone, but they do have extensive mining operations all over Africa. I'll be interviewing the head of their international relations who is one of the most connected people I've found when it comes to disarmament, diamond exporting, and the general re-building of Sierra Leone. DeBeers now does a lot of work with various governments and NGO's to better the state of the diamond industry in third-world mining countries like (and including) Sierra Leone.

While in London we also plan to meet with Global Witness (an NGO very active in eliminating the existence of conflict diamonds or "blood diamonds")

Then… it’s off to Africa where we'll be flying first from London to Nairobi (the east cost of Africa) in order to connect to our flight back to Sierra Leone on the west coast. After a "really long journey” we’ll hop on the helicopter (which is broken down more than not) and head for Freetown. (P.S. if the helicopter is down, we get an 8-hour ferry ride instead!)

After that... well... it gets a bit sketchy. It is very difficult to plan much ahead of time in Sierra Leone because of the lack of functioning roads. October is the end of the rainy season... so many of the roads will be washed out.

In Freetown we are hoping to meet with various aid organizations, visit the Children of the Nations orphanage/School, meet with one of the few licensed diamond exporters, and get an audience with a high ranking government official (Vice President or First lady).

But the real work will take place outside of Freetown... provided there are roads of some sort. We'll hire a car (likely an old Land Cruiser) and a "fixer" (i.e. a translator/guide) and head to the bush.

We hope to visit the countries largest amputee camp just outside of Freetown. We are also planning to visit World Vision’s Bagbo "area development project" where we will meet with children sponsored by Sacramento folks. We'll introduce the children to their sponsors via video messages that we'll shoot before we leave.

Then it's off to Kono (at least a day’s journey cross country... but maybe more depending on roads). If you saw the movie "Blood Diamond", Kono is the mining district depicted in the movie with vast muddy pits filled with thousands of "diggers" searching for diamonds. While in Kono we obviously plan to spend time with some of the diggers and learn what life is like for them. We are also attempting to track a diamond from the mine through the process of export and back to a store in Sacramento.

The interview I am maybe most looking forward to will take place at a church in Kono. At this church we will meet amputees AND the former rebels responsible for hacking off limbs. They now live and pray together in peace! Can you imagine the amount of forgiveness these people have in their hearts?

So this is the general plan... which I'm sure will be altered dramatically by the time we return home.

In my next blog, I'll give you an outline of the proposed 5-part series I plan to shoot in Sierra Leone.

And in the "How We Chose Sierra Leone" blog, I’ll take a look back at how we got here. The story begins over five years ago... long before I even met my husband. It will explain why Sam is coming with me and how he has been instrumental in this journey.