The Bad Side of Chocolate By Vanessa Lantigua

The Bad Side of Chocolate 

By Vanessa Lantigua

                                 

Dear Chocoholics,

  Do you ever wonder who makes the chocolate you eat? Or where it comes from? Everyday over 200 thousand children work in the hot sun of Ivory Coast in Africa; they work planting all day and get sick and hurt just for us to enjoy chocolate. This is called; Child labor.

   Children work in Ivory Coast in West Africa planting and harvesting cocoa beans. They work all day just for a few cents or nothing at all. Due to their very low payments these children don’t get an education. In the documentary “The Dark Side of Chocolate,” it shows children getting taken away from their parents and are forced to work using machetes, harvesting, and planting in the cocoa fields. In other words it’s called trafficking. They work all day in the hot sun without any breaks. It’s upsetting how the kids don’t have any freedom.

  Child labor has been going on for many years now. I say its time we put a stop to it. Help get into the action, raise your voice, and make a change. One way to help out is by buying Fair Trade chocolate. After reading the article “Reverse Trick-Or-Treaters, Deliver Fair Trade chocolate,” I learned Fair trade chocolate guarantees through that the company uses no child labor. The government donates 150 dollars for the use of no child labor involved in the making of chocolate. In my opinion buying Fair Trade chocolate is a good and easy way to help the end of child labor. Many young teens should get involved and take action.  

   Another way you can help out is by doing the Valentines Day activity. It’s a simple way to support the end of child labor. All you have to do is send a valentine to the Hershey Company telling them to not use child labor in their products. I think the Valentines Day activity is a simple way to end the use of child labor and stand up for all the children that work in the hot sun without taking any breaks, getting manipulated, just for us to have some chocolate that these same children haven’t even tasted.

     Rise up and raise your voices for these children. It’s as if they don’t have voices to fight for themselves but we do, and its our turn to take action. Freedom is what these children deserve after getting ill and hurt for us to have chocolate.

Rise up, raise your voice, and change a child’s life.