The life before the chocolate bar Kiara Noboa 611

Dear Chocoholic,

          Before I start do you remember when was the last time you had chocolate ? Have you ever thought what the life before that chocolate bar was ? Well, there are children that harvest the chocolate who don’t even know what chocolate means and never even tasted chocolate.

          Have you ever heard of the supply chain? That is how the process starts. First a child (usually 5-12) is kidnapped. Then taken either to the Ivory Coast or Ghana where they start to work. They harvest cocoa beans which will be marketed to Hershey and other chocolate brands’. This process goes on and on. In movie The Dark Side of Chocolate (no not dark chocolate) a child was left crying on a bench because a trafficker named Ali left him there. Is that what happens to every child that is trafficked? It showed that in 2006 132 children were trafficked. In 2007 140 children were trafficked. But in 2008- 2009 150 children were rescued.

          Valentines is one of the most chocolate selling holidays. On that day what you can do is send Hershey a valentine saying to use fair trade certified cocoa. With fair trade chocolate farmers get more money so they don’t have to live in poverty and the children get to go to school instead of slaving in fields.

          Have you ever heard of reverse trick or treating? Exchange students from India, Indonesia, Mozambique, and Switzerland turned the U.S tradition on its head. When they were given candy in return they gave fair trade chocolate.Fair Trade Chocolate guarantees that no child labor was used in its production. (Reverse trick or treaters By Ben Block)

          “Then, just like a predator lures it prey with a deceiving smile.” (Cocoa beans by Frieda Dennis Cooper.) People are liars; they take little children and say everything is going to be alright. But when the job is over that kids face is just a face. When is this madness going to stop?

HELP STOP CHILD LABOR