Tamba James

Tamba is a fifteen year old boy who is a miner in Koidu which is in the heart of the blood diamond industry. James and his two brothers lost both of their parents due to the war going on. James has to work in the mines to feed his young brothers. His day begins at 6am and he works very hard at the mines until 6pm. With his strenuous work schedule, Tamba is unable to go to school to get an education. He only makes enough money for a small amount of food and the boys are very poor with his wages being about 15 to 60 US cents a day. James is among thousands of child miners, most of them being between 10 and 17 years old. Many horrible accidents happen to the child miners, and although he works at the mines, Tamba has no access to medical facilities (Fofana, 2009)   When a child goes into the blood diamond business, they will most likely continue on in the industry through  adulthood. (Fofana, 2009)