Living on the Dark Side by Celine Pichardo

   Dear reader, 

Child labor has been going on for many years and there still has been no stop to it. Day after day, children are facing hunger and malnutrition. Can you believe they have not even tasted the own chocolate they make? It’s not even a little group of children that are child laboring; At least 2 million children are currently involved in the making of cocoa in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. It is important that we raise our voices because there’s a possibility that we can stop child labor.

There’s a strong impact on children that are making chocolate. According to the article Don’t be tricked by Halloween treats, it states that “This wouldn’t be the first time that candy has consumed children instead of the other way around. Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago in the late 19^th century and helped little girls who were exploited and fatigued from working six weeks straight for 14-hour days in a candy factory. When finally given a chance to taste the hard-won products of their labors, the girls couldn’t bear the sight of the candy they were offered.” I believe that this is not right. I don’t know anyone who would say no to chocolate if offered some. This is how you know that this is a problem. Children have an important role in the making of chocolate. It states in the article Don’t be tricked by Halloween treats that, “ Children as young as 5 work instead of attending school, and they handle dangerous agrochemicals, wield machetes to hack open cocoa pods and carry backbreaking loads. Even worse, there is evidence that children from Mali and Togo are trafficked into forced labor to work on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast.” As you can see, from bean to bar- there is a shocking story behind the Hershey chocolate.

Even though it can be hard to stop child labor, there are some courses of action you can take. One suggested course of action you can take is to buy Fair Trade Chocolate. Fair Trade is “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 standards. For example, field workers must not be younger than 15 years of age unless their education is not jeopardized and they do not perform particularly hazardous tasks, such as wielding a machete or applying pesticides. The program reasons that higher-paid farmers are less likely to rely on child labor.” Fair Trade is a good thing because with Fair Trade, farmers get paid more and it causes them to not use child labor. The more Fair Trade Chocolate there is the better.

Another recommended source of action you can take is to write a letter for Valentine’s Day to the Hershey’s company and tell them to use Fair Trade Chocolate. It states in the website http://www.globalexchange.org/fairtrade/cocoa/vday that, “Create your own personalized Valentine telling Hershey to use Fair Trade cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss.” If Hershey used Fair Trade Chocolate, there will be a big decrease in child labor and that would be a great help.

As you can see, being a child laborer is not easy work. Think about you as a child laborer and ask yourself if you would want to be in that position. It’s a horrible thing that no one would want to be placed in. So now, think about it, do you want to stop child labor or not? It’s your choice, take a course of action.