Most don’t realize the many ways jewelers and gemologists give back to their communities. Take veteran gem cutter Roger Dery, for instance. His family has created a nonprofit org whose sole focus is helping to educate and provide vocational training to East African mining communities. The name of the nonprofit: Gem Legacy.
Gem Legacy supports several initiatives, including those that increase educational opportunities in gemstone faceting, a trade that hasn’t flourished on the continent, but makes sense for it:
“The employment is sorely needed and has the ability to transform families and communities,” said Dery in a prepared statement.
The nonprofit has currently sets its eyes on a new goal: raising $9,500 to buy and install a used compressor for the Precious Women mine in Kenya, a mine run by local women, many widowed and in need of steady income.
This amount raised by Gem Legacy will make the use of power tools possible (since the female workers currently mine with farming tools).
Tsavorite garnets from the Precious Women mine in Kenya