When our three children were still young enough to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, they engaged in an annual ritual. After coming home from the neighborhood hunt for all manner of goodies, they would dump all their candy out on the floor and sort it out by type and flavor. The boys favored sourpatch and our daughter preferred chocolate. They’d determine preferences and divide and share accordingly. It was a Kodak moment of cooperation and collaboration.
I never thought too much about where all that candy came from until I discovered the bitter truth behind the sweets, especially where chocolate is concerned. Many mainstream chocolate companies exploit young workers in places like West Africa where children have been trafficked into slavery to work on cacao plantations, living in harsh and inhumane conditions. Watching a documentary such as “Chocolate – the Bitter Truth” from the BBC brings one face to face with the tragic lives of children in places such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rqm4n
Contrast the lives of these trafficked children with the lives of most children in our own country, who will consume the fruits of the labor of their peers across the globe while dressed in festive costumes. It gives one cause to pause. Faith communities and social justice minded individuals and groups are addressing this injustice by promoting the purchase of fair trade chocolate and other products that ensure workers are not exploited. And children are given access to education rather than trafficked in slavery. How can each of us participate in this effort to promote a more just and humane production of the very treats that we consume and enjoy?
- When shopping for products like chocolate, coffee, and tea, look for the fair trade label. If you can’t find such items, ask the manager to stock them.
- If you can’t find fair trade locally, check out a variety of websites that provide a wealth of products and gift ideas in time for the upcoming holidays. Here are just two of the many to be found online: http://www.serrv.org/ and http://equalexchange.coop/products/chocolate
May this Halloween and future holidays find us committed to doing our part so that children all over the world might not be tricked into trafficking but rather treated to lives with dignity and hope.
Peace,
Anne