Are African Girls and Diamonds Best Friends?

***** NOT ABOUT SISTERLOCKS*******

It may come to a surprise to some but Patrick and I are planning to get married once he finishes his degree/intern. Anyway we haven't made it official because there's no ring to seal the deal. Patrick had the ring all picked out with my help of course :) then something struck inside my head. Wait! I can't have a diamond. You remember the movie "Blood Diamond"? So I asked the jeweler about the ring and if it was conflict free. You should have seen the lady run and go get me a phamplet (msp?) about the kimberly process. This process is suppose to ensure that the diamonds were conflict free and certified. But later more questions came to my head.... Who does the certification? I thought if I was the person over the certifications and certifying diamonds was how I made my living then all diamonds would be conflict free. I thought about using sapphires or even cubic zs. I still want a sparkly shiny ring. So I still battled secretly inside my head between diamond or no diamond. It wasn't until I heard Prof. Griff from the (real) hip-hop group Public Enemy speak. I went to a lecture of his that was held here in Memphis at the Marcus Garvey Learning Institute. He showed gruesome pics of the diamond field workers. He then said "after seeing these pics and hearing their stories, all of Africa's diamonds are conflict diamonds!" that statement really got me to thinking. The ring we decided upon was totaled at $3,800.00. It has an antiqued setting and is simply beautiful. Out of the 3800 how much will the family that was working in the field that the diamond was found receive? How much do they get to take care of their families? Its like the saying; People who know better ought to do better! So even though I absolutely love this ring, I can not accept it. We did however find a jeweler that will custom make the exact same ring without diamonds and will use stones called moissanites. These are crystals that was formed from a fallen meteor. So I will be carrying around a part from a fallen star to symbolize our love for each other. Now how cool is that! It shines as pretty as a diamond and is more economical. Patrick was all ears to diamond alternatives when he saw those prices. Just research and check it out yourself. I already know I am going to have to explain to people why it isn't a diamond over and over again. It doesn't matter if people will understand but I will be happy because a symbol of our love didn't cause pain and suffering for someone else. Plus that extra money we will be saving could go to my wedding dress. ;O Leave m some feedback.

http://www.moissaniteco.com/