The Real Nightmare of Halloween
by Jill Robinson
Halloween has been well into a few days of celebration leading up to the official Oct.31 holiday, but there is still time to take stock of what you are handing out to co-workers or trick-or-treaters in the form of chocolate. It may be unthinkable that the chocolate we enjoy could come from the hands of children working as slaves. In Ivory Coast and other cocoa-producing countries, there are an estimated 100,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to create the chocolate delicacies enjoyed by Western countries.
In addition to the very illegality of trafficking and hiring children workers, the cocoa farmers subject the children to inhumane living conditions with inconceivable work hours, with no pay and little to eat (often times only giving the children corn paste as their only meal). Want to enjoy your chocolate without supporting slave and child labor? Here are a few ways to make sure you are supporting fair trade practices instead of terrifying work environments for artisans and their children around the world.
- Find locations that sell fair trade chocolate and products (kind of a no-brainer). The Greenheart Shop is proud of their fair trade chocolate selection.
- Participate in events like Reverse Trick-or-Treating and inform your community on child slave labor in the chocolate industry.
- Voice your opinion and sign the petition to Raise the Bar and push Hershey to take responsibility on where their products are sourced.
You can make a difference: buy fair trade chocolate and end child and slave labor in the cocoa industry and empower farmers around the globe.
