Mattiama Village

During Amy and Karen's trip this past March we were able to visit a village named Mattiama. Here in this village many of the children do not go to school and spend their days mining for diamonds. Some of these children are just toddlers. It was a very difficult trip to make and yet it is something that happens so often here in this country- we needed to see it.They spend time digging the ground and then fill rice bags with the dirt- the kids then carry these bags down to the water.Here Amy and I are making the trip along with the villagers down to the place where they actually search for the diamonds. As they get to the water it is usually two of the older boys or men who do the actual sifting. The kids take turns putting shovels of dirt onto the men's strainers. They then dip it into the water and shake it until the loos sand falls through. They search through the larger stones looking for a diamond and when they don't find one they throw it all out and start again. ALL DAY they go through this process- often not even getting one full meal. The deal is that the children work for the man and he is supposed to feed them- they don't get paid and to be honest they don't get fed either. On top of that they will do this for months and months and not find a single diamond. When we asked when the last time was they found a diamond- he told us it was before Christmas but the diamond was not good so they got nothing for it. We couldn't determine when the last time money actually came into the village.

The children who are lucky enough to go to school have to walk 4 miles each way- and in the Rainy Season there are not many places to hid from the rain once it starts so it makes for a long difficult walk and many sick kids.

My family and I are going to head back to this village today. We are bringing some of the used clothing so many of you donated to us, as well as toys for each of the kids. We are also going to do a two day bible school, with crafts, snacks and tonight we will be showing the Jesus film to all the village people (in Mende). It will be a long time and take a lot before this situation changes for these children, but at least we can come be a part of their lives for a couple days and hopefully introduce them to the One who can truly save them.

(I am posting all these posts in advance to come out on these days- so we will post again after letting all of you know what actually happens- but I know that my few followers who are still reading this blog are looking for updates and the only way I can really do that is to spend a good day getting a bunch ready and scheduling them to come out on certain days- the good things is that even though I will not actually be able to communicate with all of you on this day- you will read this post as we are going to Mattiama and will be able to pray for us. We ask that you do as I know this will once again be an eye opening, emotional trip.)