I'm writing on my laptop computer. A few minutes ago, I finished a call on my cell-phone. My grandson is playing a video game. I am amazed and pleased with the wonder of today's technology.

I just finished reading a news article. Now, I feel so guilty. I feel sad. I just learned that our wondrous cell-phone, laptop and video games and the slavery and deaths of children in Congo are directly related.

What can I do to help those maltreated children? What should my country do for the children? Will the United Nations intervene in a way to stop the horror that the children are facing death every day in deep holes? Would people in the world be willing to give up technological tools and toys to help the precious children? If I give up mine, will it make a difference?

Someone must find a way to save the children. Not later but NOW.

The "black gold" mined in Congo should be called "The Children's Gold." Col tan is a black gravel-like, heat-resistant mineral, scientifically named "columbium-tantalite." Mine-children work to dig the tons of cultan and the adult workers sort the black chemical from the dirt. There are numerous other chemicals in the dirt. It is unknown what medical and health problems those chemicals are causing and will cause to workers.

The children spend their days in the deep holes digging dirt with crude tools. They also work in a myriad of tunnels where there is no structural protection from falling rocks and cave-ins. Adult workers sift through the dirt with their hands while also blowing the dust, with all its chemicals, flies back onto their uncovered faces and lungs.

The adults earn $1.00 per day while children earn 20 cents per day (U.S. dollars). There is no other work to help them to feed and take care of their families. Children work because their parents' health is too bad for them to work. The wars since 1992 have caused injuries and disabilities. Heavy work, long hours and dangers cause too many mine-children to die or become disabled. Their futures and their dreams have already died because of their enslavement.

Those who work to move dirt from the ground, separate the cultan from the dirt, supervise the work and prepare it to be sold earn pennies while the sellers and re-sellers earn hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. To put that into prospective, the price of an ounce of chas been as high as $400. That was during the high-technology explosion of the 1990's. In 2008,

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