THE COST OF IGNORANCE

Not knowing what we should know can be costly. Ali A. Mufuruki tells what took place in his home country of Tanzania during the colonial era: Some native Africans were using big rough stones to play a local board game. A Canadian geologist, Dr. John Williamson, who knew the stones, sent scouts to nearby villages to buy them for small fees and trinkets. He also got the local chief to sell him the land in the area and quickly secured an exclusive diamond-mining license. “Over its lifetime, the [Mwadui] mine has produced over 19 million carats (3,800 kg) of diamonds worth several times the GDP of my country today and has gone down in history as one of the oldest continuously operating diamond mine in the world” (Mufuruki). “My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). Africa, do you know?—Samuel Koranteng-Pipim