i am a big-time Chocoholic – but i never realised that this happens in this industry too – so have a read & help by knowing where your chocolate comes from…
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On July 1st, people all across our town will be going out of their way to buy more chocolate—a chocoholic’s dream, but it will be fairly-traded chocolate. This is the best way and the only way to eat your chocolate slave free.
July 1st is a very important day around the world.
It’s the day when the chocolate industry promised to make sure that no children were being used as slaves on cocoa farms.
It’s the day when we could eat a bar of our favourite chocolate such as a Mars, Kit Kat or Dairy Milk knowing that no child has been used in the harvesting of the cocoa beans that went to make the chocolate we love to eat.
Sadly there will be no celebrations on July 1st.
Industry has failed to keep its original promises.
Today, children as young as 12 are still being used as slaves on cocoa plantations.
Here are the words of one child after being rescued from a farm. “I will tell you how I lost my arm. I tried to escape, but I could not. They caught me and tied me to a papaya tree and they beat me and broke my arm. I used to dream horrible dreams that they were beating me and about many other things: the hard work, my family … I still have these dreams today”.
Although the majority of farmers would not treat children in this way, there are some who do, and there are an estimated 12,000 children trafficked onto cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast into a life of slavery.
In our community, thousands of people are buying chocolate without knowing that these children are suffering for our sweet tooth to make fat profits for an industry that hasn’t delivered on its promises.
In 2001 they said they would certify that farms were slave free. Now they are saying that they are gathering data on some of the areas where cocoa is harvested.
This is not what they promised.
This is not good enough after 7 years of waiting for the freedom, safety and protection of these children.
We have to choose which chocolate bar to buy, at little cost to us when our chocolate is costing some children their lives.
STOP THE TRAFFIK – http://www.stopthetraffik.org
* Grab a group of friends (as many as you can)
* Dress up—draw attention to yourselves
* Stand outside the local shops and go and buy fair trade chocolate
* Come out and give it all away, telling people why, and asking them to copy what you have done.
* Tell them to buy as much fair trade chocolate as they can and give it away
* Invite the local press to the event and send them the press release we have provided and tell them what you are going to be doing
Keep it simple so as many people as possible can join in.
This can be done on July 1st, or in that week, and can be repeated so that more and more people know what is going on.
The only way to STOP THE TRAFFIK is to tell people what is happening so that they choose to do something about it.
Repost this on your blog, facebook or anywhere else.
ACT TOGETHER FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T.
trippingdifferently 