How Fairtrade Can Improve The Lives of Small Scale Gold Miners In Tanzania
In early May of 2014, I traveled as a fair trade jeweler to Tanzania at the invitation of Fair Trade International to visit small scale gold mining sites that were candidates for fairtrade gold certification. I was inspired by many people— from the Fair Trade Africa and UK team, commercial colleagues from England; and also, the extraordinary miners who had worked so hard to get where they were.
I knew from witnessing develop projects in many places around the world, that this next commercial step resulting from our meetings will be successful precisely because of how hard people had worked on the ground with the mining communities. This capacity building involves a massive amount of training and education in best small scale mining practices. In an earlier post,, I documented in a practical manner how the process of fairtrade gold works on the ground.
Ultimately, a strong and responsible fairtrade gold mining sector in Tanzania and other African nations will improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. But what exactly will that change look like? There’s no person more qualified to answer this question than Tina Mwasha.
Tiny grew up in a small village and through her hard work earned scholarships that lead to her becoming the first woman mineral processing engineer in Tanzania. Instead of working with large scale mining companies which would have offered her a very wealthy lifestyle, she chose to assist the miners from small villages.
In a previously posted video, Tina tells why she made this choice to be of such service. Here’s she expresses how fairtrade gold will impact people on the ground. As someone who sells fair trade gold wedding and engagement rings, my dream is that people all over the world hear and support this vision by buying fair trade gold jewelry. This is not charity—it simply involves using our economic power to create a more beautiful world.
This the second of three short videos from my interview with Tina that I will post from my trip.
