No I'm Not Insane

So I thought today I would share just a little about why I am actually giving up chocolate for a year (because I am not insane) and who STOP THE TRAFFIK actually are and what they do. 

A few years ago, we were going on a mission trip to Mexico and we were selling chocolates to raise money. We had been selling them for a few weeks when my mum came home one day from a conference thing and told us about what she had just heard that day. That was the first time I had ever heard about human traffiking and child slave labour on cocoa farms. We decided there and then to stop selling our chocolates because Cadbury was one of the companies that bought their cocoa beans from Cote D'Ivoire in Africa.

Cote D'Ivoire is responsible for nearly half of the worlds cocoa farms and on most of these, the workers are children under the age of 14. These children are either conned into working for the farmers or are abducted . They are taken under the false promises of money for their families, food, shelter and education, but rarely do they ever see any of these. They work for less that $1 US a day, and overall it adds up to around $120 US a year. None of this money they make actually goes to their families at all and often they never see their families again.

When these children are on these farms they are treated shockingly. They are forced to work incredibly ling hours under the overbearing sun and are constantly bent over picking these beans. If they dont pick their daily quota of beans they are severely beaten. Also, if they try to escape they are beaten as well. Many of the workers have lost limbs because of their beatings. The huts they live in are small and have no windows and the doors are guarded. There are so many kids in one hut that they hardly have enough room to lie down.

Cadbury, along with Nestle, Mars and Hersheys, the other big chocolate manufactures, all purchase their cocoa beans from farms with conditions such as the ones described above. They don't car about the injustice that is occurring so long as the get the best quality beans for the cheapest price.

STOP THE TRAFFIK is an organisation that works to stop human traffiking in our world. They have a chocolate campaign which is all about raising awareness of the issue and telling chocolate manufactures that we won't buy their chocolate unless it is fair trade (meaning they can guaruntee the farmers and the workers are paid their right amount). That is why I am doing this insane thing. I am raising money for STOP THE TRAFFIK to help stop human traffiking, child slave labour and to raise awareness about this issue. I can only hope my works will make a difference.

blog again soon...