One of the world´s largest diamonds has been sold for $6.5 million (ca. €5.5 Mio). It has been named Peace Diamond because a quarter of the money will go to the village in Sierra Leone where the diamond was found. The diamond is the 14th biggest stone that was ever found worldwide and it was sold at an auction on Monday earlier this week.
Blood diamonds are a problem in this region in Sierra Leone, they are sold to smugglers and help finance the civil war. But instead of selling the diamond to smugglers they brought it to the attention of the national government. The final price, however, was less than the government had hoped to raise with the stone.
The village where the diamond was found currently has no clean water, no electricity, medical facilities, roads or schools. The diamond represents their hope for a better future. It also shows that it is better to hand over diamonds to the government instead of selling them to smugglers. The remaining money will go to a government program called the Diamond Area Community Development Fund.
large (lɑ:ʤ) – groß
to sell (sel) – etw verkaufen
peace (pi:s) – der Frieden
quarter (ˈkwɔ:təʳ) – ein Viertel
worldwide (ˌwɜ:ldˈwaɪd) – weltweit
blood diamond (blʌd ˈdaɪəmənd) – der Blutdiamant (so genannt weil damit gewalttätige Konflikte finanziert werden)
smuggler (ˈsmʌgləʳ) – der/die Schmuggler/in
instead (ɪnˈsted) – anstatt
to raise (reɪz) – hier: etw beschaffen, sammeln, erzielen
currently (ˈkʌrəntli) – zurzeit, gegenwärtig
facility (fəˈsɪlɪti) – hier: die Einrichtung, Anlage
to represent (ˌreprɪˈzent) – etw darstellen, repräsentieren
remaining (rɪˈmeɪnɪŋ) – restlich, übrig
fund (fʌnd) – Fonds