The Dark Side Of Chocolate By Sheila Munim

The Dark Side of Chocolate

Dear Concerned Citizen,

                                      Did you know that the chocolate that you are eating are made by little chocolate hands of five, six, and seven year old slaves to make the candy bars that you can’t live without?according to a Poem Cocoa Beans by Frieda Dennis Cooper.

          Children in the supply chain work so hard because they’re forced to even though they don’t want to so they could earn a living. It is illegal for children to work at such a young age but still they cut down the cocoa pods even though they suffer and injure themselves.

     Cocoa comes mainly from Ivory Coast and West African countries. Children are trafficked to work on these farms. In 2006, 132 children were trafficked. In 2007, 140 children were trafficked. In 2008-2009, 150 children were also rescued.

     Some ways we can help the children and some of the ways people already did is that “Exchange students from India, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Switzerland joined reverse trick or treaters in the suburbs of Washington, D.C to deliver Fair Trade Chocolate’’. (Reverse Trick or Treating) Some other ways you can help them is by buying a Fair Trade chocolate.” “In the cocoa industry, Fair Trade standards guarantee that farmers receive a premium of $150 on top of market prices for each ton of cocoa they produce, as long as they meet specified labor.’’ (Reverse Trick or Treating)

   In conclusion, you have to be very careful about the type of chocolate you choose because it can be very tasty on the outside but inside, there’s a whole new story. It is very dark, thick and sour.

                                                                             Sincerely,

                                                                                      Sheila