Dear
chocolate admirer,
Welcome to the life of 7 year old
Abdul. Abdul is a little child whose mother passed away. When Abdul’s mother
died, a stranger brought him across the border to the cocoa farm. He says that
all he gets is little food, torn clothes, and an occasional tip from the
farmer. Abdul is not the only kid in this nightmare.
Yacou says he is 16 but looks younger and
works as to cleaning grass. He says that he can’t clear grass in the cocoa fields without cutting himself. “I
wish I could go to school.” These are the words of Yacou who dreams of going to
school but can’t due to child labor. Children also have other roles on the farm.
Some kids help dry the beans, pick the cocoa pods from the cocoa plantations
and take the cocoa beans out of the cocoa pods. Due to working on the farms,
the get very hurt. Many kids don’t get any healing supply when they get hurt,
they get no sleep, no food, no money, and they get threatened if they don’t
work. This has gone on for many years and we have to raise awareness of the
problem.
We can raise awareness by
sending letters to the chocolate companies telling them how hard the kids on
the cocoa farms, the roles each of them take and how child labor has
consequences on the farmers and vendors. We can also do the Fair Trade Movement
in many cities and states to let them know about this madness. According to the
article “Reverse Trick-or-Treaters”, it states, “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 their field workers are not younger than 15
unless they do not perform particularly hazardous tasks.” This shows that
farmers will get paid to not use child labor against children under 15.
Do you think children
deserve to be little slaves or little students with an education? All children
deserve to have an education and we all have voices so lets use them to help
the “Little Chocolate Victims”.
Sincerely, Nerissa Morillo
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