Gold for Growth Workshop: Empowering Communities, Creating Global

Jalingo, Taraba State (Nigeria) – When the Heart Decides, the World Aligns

I remember when they said it would be too difficult, that we would never make it, that we would end up getting hurt.

And they were right. We collapsed many times, we lost our breath, our patience, and our sleep.

We gritted our teeth while everything seemed to fall apart.

We doubted, and then we kept going anyway.

And yet, today we are here.

With hands marked by the journey, voices a little worn, but eyes full of light.

It was not a coincidence. It was courage, perseverance, faith.

It was believing that something right deserved to exist, together with those who had the heart to believe in it with us.

We made it not because it was easy, but because it was necessary.

When I was a child, I did not dream of gold itself, but of what gold could become for people.

I did not yet imagine the places, the faces, the challenges.

But I felt that my path would begin there: creating human value where gold is born.

Today, seeing that dream come to life together with those who truly safeguard it repays every effort.

I deeply believe that the sum of individual interests is not enough to build a better tomorrow.

Change requires the ability to look around, to recognize ourselves as part of something greater, to feel responsible not only for what we create, but for what we leave behind.

Each of us, from where we stand, can contribute to generating value: not only economic, but human and social.

As we build goods and services, we must not forget that the first wealth to create is dignified work for all.

Because an economy that excludes is not progress: it is only profit without a future.

Nothing truly begins unless we meet.

It is in meeting, beyond differences, that processes, belonging, and real transformation are born.

I myself, a geologist who is not immune to mistakes and moments of falling, have learned that it is precisely under pressure and in fragility that the doors to empathy open. Experiences shake me, break me apart, and then place me back on the path.

When the heart truly commits, the world starts to align around that vision, because inner coherence generates outward movement. Those who leave a meaningful mark in everyday life do not do so through ideas alone, but because they are able to translate ideals, intentions, and values into concrete actions.

It was with this spirit that “Gold for Growth” was born.

Not as a project to present, but as a human, collective, and deeply necessary act.

For the first time, local miners, government authorities, and communities of Taraba State (Nigeria) came together to bring the Gold for Growth Workshop to life: a historic step toward the formalization of artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Taraba.

An initiative promoted by the Government of Taraba State, in collaboration with Legacy River International and Green Mining Italia, with a clear vision:

to build responsible mining development that begins with people, with the authentic value of miners, their hands, their experience, and their knowledge.

Gaining the trust of Nigerian miners and managing to gather more than 250 of them in the same place was not a simple event: it was a signal.

A gesture that affirmed that change is possible, and that it can grow from within the community itself.

With them, we spoke of dignity, knowledge, and real opportunities.

Of gold that does not destroy, but builds.

Of gold that becomes education, health, community, shared growth.

I did not come to bring truths to teach. I came with a willingness to listen.

Because when you stand before those who live a complex and authentic reality every day, theory alone is not enough.

What’s needed is presence, genuine admiration, and openness.

And above all, the humility to be ready to learn just as much as you hope to share.

In that room, with 250 eyes attentively listening to our words, I felt clearly that change is born from dialogue, from choosing to sit together, look at each other in the eye, and recognize one another.

Gold for Growth is not a project: it is a bridge.

A bridge of mutual trust, listening, and shared possibility.

It is proof that when respect is present, even the smallest seeds can grow into forests.

I am grateful for every handshake, every smile, every meaningful silence, because in those moments I saw something simple and immense: growing together is possible.

I am even more grateful because I am learning from the artisans, from their humility and wisdom, that gold cannot, and must not, shine only in international markets, but must first shine in the villages, in the families, and in the lives of those who extract it.

If today more than 250 miners believed enough to sit and listen, then what was once a dream has now become reality.

Gold can do good.

And I will continue, in my own small way, to put my work into proving it.