International (MNN) — After a trip to Sierra Leone and Liberia with World Hope International, one author is doing her part to help raise awareness of suffering around the world.
Heather Gemmen Wilson's book is titled Lydia Barnes and the Blood Diamond Treasure. It is a story of the suffering which is the result of the diamond trade she saw firsthand in Liberia. It takes place through the eyes of a missionary's child named Lydia who is trying to help her new friends and neighbors fight against HIV/AIDS. Lydia is on a quest for a diamond she believes will help her get better funding for health care for victims of the disease.
The book is aimed at "tweens," or 8 to 12-year-olds and can be used as an educational tool to make them aware of the life many Africans face as a result of the diamond
trade.
World Hope's founder Jo Anne Lyon wrote the forward for the book.
The "blood diamond" industry in Africa violates trade agreements. Workers are
forced to work under rebels who pay them only pennies a day and threaten to cut off limbs of people who they believe may have stolen a diamond.
