The Tragedy of the Unknown Truth about Chocolate- Nataly Zarzuela

Dear  concerned citizen,

Ow!! My leg is bleeding because I cut myself with my machete while I was cracking the cocoa bean open. This is the life of Abdul as described in the article 'Chocolate child slave' by CNN's David Mckenzie

Children work all day just to find  cocoa beans and open them to take out the part that the companies use to make our delicious chocolate.Cocoa beans come from the west coast of Africa in the Ivory coast. An organization called the UNICEF estimated that 'nearly a half of million  children work on farms across the Ivory coast ."thousands of children have been trafficked across borders".

Children have been hurt many times but do not know what to do.Their have given up hope about their feelings of freedom Kids my age experience verbal,physical and sexual  harassment because they are taken and have restrictions on their freedom. Kids move to cocoa farms without their biological parents or legal guardians.

Reverse trick or treating is an effort to raise awareness about the prevalence of child labor on cocoa farms in west africa . In other words it is a group of people on Halloween  who have fair trade chocolate and instead of receiving it,they give it to young trick or treaters .Fair trade chocolate pays farmers a fair amount of money so they won't have to hire children 18 to work on cocoa fields.

Hershey's chocolate company has a commitment to keep by 2020. The company has to have 100 percent certified cocoa .We have to help children in child labor all over Africa.Child labor is the worst form of labor.

Sweet & Sour Chocolate Bars by Fernanda Brito

                            

Dear chocolate lover,

             Children's dreams of growing up to doctors, lawyers and other things are washing away. Their childhood is destroyed, all the playing tag and skipping on the sidewalk are long gone. These kids pass through tough times when they work their childhood away.Horrible things happen ,they get hurt and no one ever cares.
            In West Africa kids work in cocoa farms without any other option. According to the text "Bitter chocolate" , these kids "experienced worst forms of child labor including: verbal,  physical and sexual harassment..." In "child slavery and chocolate", "The agency says hundreds of thousands of children, many of them trafficked across borders, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor." These children no longer have sprits to play and dream. This boy named Yacou wishes to go to school he wants to learn how to read and write. In the article "Bitter chocolate, children " performed hazardous work including land clearing and burning, carrying heavy loads..."
            To help I would buy fair trade chocolate. Fair trade chocolate is when farmers are paid more so they don't live in poverty and their children can get a education.  According to the text "Reverse Trick-or-Treaters"Deliver Fair Trade Chocolate", "The farmers from whom this company gets the cocoa, they are paid fairly."I would also support reverse trick-or-treating. Reverse trick-or-treating is when kids go trick-or-treating and as they collect candy they also give back their own fair trade-certified organic dark chocolate. This raises people awareness about the topic of child labor.
             These kids get hurt everyday, they get harassed in so many ways. I thought adults would care about us kids because we are future leaders of America and we could plan very good things for the future that would change lives and hopes. Hershey I hope you keep your commitment of having 100% certified cocoa by 2020. We need to stop child labor and convince the public to buy fair trade chocolate.

                                                                                                         Yours sincerely,
                                                                                                         Fernanda Brito