Komolo school projects

Thursday 24 January 2008

L'Association Française de Gemmologie

The first substantial village next to our tsavorite mine at Lemshuko is Komolo and the location of the deposit is occasionally referred to as “the Komolo deposit�. This village, located 20 kilometers from the mine, is large enough to host a primary school attended by close to a 250 pupils, the "Komolo Primary School".

The Association Française de Gemmologie (AFG) came visited Tanzania twice in 2006, each time with a different group of approximately 30 people. Participants in these “gem-safaris� were gemologists, scientists, traders, jewelers and hobbyists.
While organizing their trips, the AFG told us that they intended to participate financially in some type of local development project, perhaps in the field of education, but not necessarily linked to the world of gemstones. After assessing different options, we decided to build an extra classroom on the grounds of the Komolo school.

The amount of $7,500 was required. The AFG decided on a $4,000 contribution which everyone here in Komolo is grateful for. Swala Gem Traders provided the remaining $3,500. We would like to sincerely thank the AFG for initiating such a project.

The International Colored Gemstone Association (ICA)

In mid-2007, a large ICA group (50 people) came to East Africa for a 10 day gem-safari, spending five days in Kenya, followed by another five in Tanzania.

In Tanzania, the first day was spent at Mererani, the world famous tanzanite deposit; an hour from Arusha. The ICA spent the following day in Arusha town. This enabled members to see and purchase various rough and cut gems. The next day, the group travelled to our tsavorite mine at Lemshuko where they were shown the whole mining process from the initial extraction to the final stage. The last day was a more traditional safari as members visited to the Ngorongoro Crater.

The ICA board explained that in one way or another, they always participated in a philanthropic action during each of their overseas trips. While going to the mines, we visited the Komolo school. We told the ICA about the “AFG-Swala Gem Traders� project and as yet another classroom was needed, the ICA decided that a similar contribution should be made.

The second classroom has since then been built with a similar budget. The breakdown of the contributions is: ICA - $3,000; individual ICA members - $2,000; Swala Gem Traders - $2,500.

Photos by Kevin Lewis