Not So Sweet Capitalism By:Mariah Edmundson

  Not so Sweet Capitalism

    By: Mariah Edmundson

Stand up; Raise your voice for the kids in the Ivory Coast. Working hard to make the chocolate we love today. Little kids are victims of Child Labor. This has been going on for many years it’s time to speak up. The Ivory Coast is very hot and humid. Kids are stuck picking and chopping cocoa beans with machetes’. Just like a predator lures it’s with a deceiving smile”. Ms.Frieda Denis Cooper the poet once said in her poem “Cocoa Beans.” According to the documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate one little girl, Mariam was tricked into going on the bus which leads to Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast is a vulnerable place for children. At least 2 million kids are working in the Ivory Coast. This is a loathsome thing that is occurring. Don’t you want to stop this? I do! So it’s time to speak up; make your voice heard.

One course of action is to support fair trade chocolate. Exchange students form Mozambique, India, Indonesia and Switzerland joined trick or treaters in the suburbs of Washington D.C, to deliver Fair trade chocolate. Fair trade chocolate is fair trade certification which appears on a number of chocolate beans including Equal Exchange. Meaning that no child labor was involved is the making of harvesting the cocoa beans.

According to the article “Reverse trick or treaters Delivers Fair Trade chocolate” once said” There is an outrageous number if children who are suffering from horrible back pain and other ergonomic neck issues between the ages of 5 and 18 just to we can have chocolate.” Children in the Ivory Coast never go to school or see their families. They don’t even make money. These child slaves are stranded on the Ivory Coast working without a choice. When children are done working they don’t go home. They have more work to do, child slaves are extremely tired.

If you feel like you need to speak up here are some activities. Create your own personalized Valentines day Valentine telling Hershey to use fair Trade cocoa for its products, like the iconic chocolate Kiss. Address your valentine to Hershey Trust at 100 Crystal A Drive, Hershey, PA 17033 Valentine's Day is a major chocolate buying holiday, but gifts for your sweetheart should not come at the expense of worker rights! Forced labor, child labor and trafficking continue in the cocoa industry in West Africa. Global Exchange is company trying to end the child labor in the cocoa industry.

If you decide to change at least 2 million kids lives’ considered yourself a hero. Just by raising awareness you can change kids’ lives in the Ivory Coast. Just by telling one person you can change a lot but if you want to end completely you have to tell everyone you know. Your opinion matters and it’s best that it is heard. Stand up; let your voice be heard. Promise guaranteed you will not have one single regret.