Rachel (née Dery) Merisheki, executive director of Gem Legacy, a Detroit-based nonprofit that supports vocational training, entrepreneurship and community development in East African artisanal gem mining communities, wants potential donors to know one thing:
“One hundred percent of our donations go directly to our initiative,” she tells JCK. “We don’t take any fees. Originally we were able to fund it through annual contributions from our board members, but to grow you have to put something in. When we spoke at an event and wanted to print business cards or pay for a domain name, it was no longer feasible”.
To help with administrative costs, the non-profit organisation, founded five years ago by Merisheki’s father, gemstone dealer Roger Dery, created a spin-off for-profit company called Gem Legacy Adventures, which takes people on annual trips to Kenya and Tanzania to visit mines and community development projects. Think of it as a travel outfitter with a charitable twist.
“The goal was to fund the charity but kill two birds with one stone,” says Merisheki. “When we looked at our donor list, 80 per cent of our top donors had all travelled to East Africa and experienced the mining regions. We decided that we’d create more passionate donors if they had the opportunity to see it all first hand.
The first Gem Legacy Adventure took place in the summer of 2022. And just last August, the organisation completed its second trip. A third trip is planned for 3-13 August 2024. “You have to work around the trade fair schedule and the rainy season at these mines, so summer is best,” says Merisheki.
What can people expect from the adventure? “A lot of people say, ‘Africa? Is it scary? Is it dangerous?” she says. “We take you through everything: what to pack, what not to pack, cultural norms, how to greet people. It’s a very, very different culture.
“You’re going to have some eye-opening moments,” she adds. “The credibility you have when you can say, ‘I’ve actually been to a coloured gemstone mine, here are the challenges, here’s what they’re really good at. The miners love what they do and it energises people who’ve been in the industry for decades. And now you have this story to tell about a place you’ve seen first hand. You can be part of the conversation about where coloured gemstones come from and the positive impact they have.
The itineraries vary from year to year, but in future the 10-day trips will start in Nairobi before heading south to Voi, then drive across the border into Tanzania and end in Arusha, with departures from Kilimanjaro.
The aim is to give participants a taste of what it’s like to work with Gem Legacy.
“We want it to feel as organic as possible,” says Merisheki. “This summer we delivered tool kits to the mines. There’s a fine line between supporting a mine and investing in a mine. We work really hard to find the right mines that need this kind of support. We tell them, ‘This is a gift, no strings attached.
A typical itinerary includes about eight mine visits, including five or six mines in Kenya, one or two in the ruby mining area near Voi, and one tanzanite mine. It goes without saying that the drives between the sites are de facto game drives due to the abundance of wildlife in the region, which includes the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater.
“We also visit some of our community development initiatives,” says Merisheki. These include a school in southern Kenya with around 40 children aged between 5 and 18, and a primary school in Tanzania with 900 children for whom Gem Legacy provides breakfast and lunch.
“About 80 per cent of the children are children of ruby miners in the zoisite area of northern Tanzania,” she says. “USAID [United States Agency for International Development] used to sponsor the lunch programme, but they pulled out. There was a private donor, but we took it back about three years ago.
“It’s really remarkable what free food can do,” Merisheki continues. “It motivates parents to send their children to school. And to get them there on time. And the lunch comes at the end of the school day and motivates the children to stay until the end. When we took over the school, they had a pass rate of 7 per cent, and for five years running we have had over 90 per cent. All because of the food.
The Gem Legacy Adventure costs $4,850 for a single and $4,400 for a double, not including airfare, alcohol, gifts, visas, vaccinations or tips. “We are not in five-star resorts, but the hotels are clean and very comfortable,” says Merisheki.
The capacity per trip is 14 people; the August 2024 trip currently has seven places available. While participants do not need to be members of the industry to join a Gem Legacy Adventure, they must make a $1,000 donation to Gem Legacy within 18 months of the trip.
Says Merisheki: “We want people who are invested in this and respect what we’re doing.
