“Congratulations, you’ve just made history!” I exclaim as I meet members of a small-scale mining co-operative just above their expertly timbered pit in the Busia gold belt, eastern Uganda. Just two weeks before my visit to Syanyonja Artisan Miners Alliance (SAMA) they became the first ever Fairtrade certified gold mine in Africa.
Certification has been hard-won for the group’s 33 members, but it has led to improvements in health and safety and mining practice which are already proving transformational.
In Busia, the majority of locals depend on gold mining for their survival as it is the main source of employment, yet they make next to nothing. Away from the Fairtrade-certified mine, children are everywhere, working alongside their families to supplement household income. It is desperately ironic; these people are dirt poor, surrounded by dirt, yet living on top of a gold mine. Most are forced to mine illegally despite the dangers. We see entire families, from toddlers who play at their mothers’ feet as they treat basins of ore with mercury and burn it in the open, to boys whose skinny frames are prematurely muscular from hard physical labour. Many work to pay for their own school fees.
SAMA’s achievement in just four years, formal registration with the local government, offers hope to the community. They are able to teach others in the area how to mine more safely and once the export supply chain has been established, they’ll be able to sell to the 14 Fairtrade global gold markets for a better price. They’ll receive a Fairtrade Premium which they will be able to invest in projects to help their community.
“What does this achievement mean to you?” I ask treasurer Hadija Tabbu. She carefully considers my question and then replies softly: “First we were illegal miners, but now we’re registered and formally recognised as ‘artisanal’ by the local government. We have a collective voice, a louder voice. And we pay tax to the government for the first time because we are an association.
“We learned how to save a bit of money each month thanks to the training we had through Fairtrade and this gives us something in the bank. If someone is sick, we can offer help. We’re happy because we know we’re doing business properly. If we save and buy a ball mill, we can hire it out to the community.”
SAMA’s accomplishment is all the more remarkable given the levels of poverty in the region. Many miners earn as little as 50 pence a day digging pits in the fragile soil in the hope of striking lucky.
Elizabeth Njujala, 32, has six children and explains that she has no alternative to mining. “I mine to keep my family running. When you come away from the pit at the end of the day with nothing, mining is bad, but when you strike gold, you forget about the hardships. It’s a really hard life. You put your effort in, the pit collapses, and you try again. But I don’t have any other option than to mine. I go to the mine to sustain my family.”
While there, we witness the heavy downpour of the monsoon. Rivulets quickly trickle and then gush everywhere, heading downward, swamping the parched soil. The next morning, we visit open cast mines which are completely flooded by the downpour, yet locals continue to dig. Typically, pits are sunk until the miners encounter a rich vein, which they then follow until the pit walls collapse. Fatalities are frequent, especially during the rainy season when the soil becomes even less stable and the open cast quarries fill with water.
As a father of 12, 57-year-old miner Augustine Barasa explains: “I was mining, hacking away at the soil, when the overburden came at me from above and buried me. My friends escaped and when it was over, they pulled me out. I damaged my back which means I can’t do hard work anymore. The problem is, the stomach still wants to eat.
“My heart feels I should mine, but I’m worried, especially when my sons go into the pit. I keep imagining the same might happen to them. I hope we can all join the Fairtrade project so our lives can improve.”
Everyone we meet in the community say they have hope that Fairtrade will help change their fortunes. Fairtrade miner Simon Wabwire tells me: “We have been mining a long time and we have felt exploited. The middle men are buying the gold at almost half what the global gold market is. This is gold that we have sweated blood to get out of the ground. But under Fairtrade, we will sell at a good price.”
SAMA’s plans for the future are ambitious. Once their export supply chain is in place they’d like to prioritise school fees and support the local health centre in Busitema sub-county with their Fairtrade Premiums. Today, if you go to the health centre, you’ll find no medicines, and several pregnant mothers have died during delivery as a result.
Wabwire adds: “My message to jewellery lovers in the UK is that our gold is special. Ours is the first certified gold mine in the whole of Africa. We’ve done our bit and we have dreams to expand our business, to improve our conditions and now we are asking you to do your bit in return. If you buy Fairtrade gold, you will help change the lives of miners and ensure our children go to school.”
Find out more about Fairtrade’s ‘I Do’ campaign, which encourages couples to choose Fairtrade Gold wedding bands here.
Content on this page is paid for and provided by Fairtrade Foundation, sponsor of the spotlight on commodities series
