Dear
Chocolate lover,
Can you imagine that chocolate is
mostly made by suffering little hands? Well those hands are the hands of
suffering children. These children work very hard every day in farms. Some
don’t get paid, harvesting cocoa beans to make chocolate. Some kids haven’t
even tasted chocolate. Some risk their lives for their work especially with
tools like the machetes. Child labor is used on cocoa plantations to produce
the chocolate we love.
There are some news teams like CNN
(Chocolate Child Slaves) that have brought to light about child labor being
used. Some have written articles, books, and poems about child labor. There are
a lot of children who do hazardous work for no money. But these children are
putting their lives at risk, just for making chocolate. They might get hurt
harvesting cocoa beans, with the machetes or chemicals. Some kids are
trafficked or taken away from their families. Welcome to the life of a 7 year
old boy named Abdul. He was trafficked away from his parents. He is uneducated,
treated unfairly, etc. His life is like other children doing unfair labor. There’s
is a poem that Frieda Dennis Cooper wrote. There was a line that spoke to me,
which was “Wishes of a comfy bed and enough food to stop the pangs they’ve come
to know all too well.” This demonstrates that, they barely get any rest, food,
and care. They are treated like slaves.
We need to
stop this madness by protesting to companies and put pressure on them. We can
sign a petition for this. We can make people aware what’s going on outside the
United States. It’s just like Reverse Trick or Treating. It is during Halloween,
when kids hand back their own Fair Trade Certified organic dark chocolate. Fair
Trade Chocolate is “a program guarantees farmers a minimum price for their output,
enforces fair labor conditions(prohibiting forced labor) and encourages environmental
sustainability”(line from Don’t Be Tricked by Halloween treats by Ben Block).
No matter what, this child labor needs to
stop. Children are people, too.
Sincerely,
Eduardo Ramos
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