From the Mouths of Slaves

Cote D’Ivoire cocoa will be growing in the hostile air of political unrest this spring, with two leaders claiming the presidency in a rampage ravaging the country.  Young men trafficked from Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso will be forced another year to toil in fields that feed chocolate lovers everywhere.

In the BBC documentary, Slavery: A Global Investigation, one young slave on a Cote D’Ivoire plantation was asked what he would say to cocoa consumers:

“If I had something to say to them, it would not be nice words.  They enjoy something I suffered to make; I worked hard for them, but saw no benefit. They are eating my flesh,” he said.

The young man and his fellow slaves from Mali told journalists he they never tasted chocolate.

One Country at a Time

It is rare such thoughts would interrupt us while we gobble our favorite cocoa products, and even more unlikely that we would spend time with the nuanced realities of life in this keystone country of the Guinea Coast in West Africa.

While we live in days where access to unlimited information is standard, the pain of real people can pass through us like a stream of intangible ghosts.

Rather than speaking to the broad issue of slavery in the cocoa industry, we might be more effective in focusing on specific regions and people groups, in this case Cote D’Ivoire, a country worthy of attention at least for its 40 percent contribution to the world cocoa industry.

Perhaps the best way for us to help countries like Cote D’Ivoire is to understand their vulnerabilities and global connections, and from that knowledge to influence policies shaping the future of West Africa.

If you would like to take action, you can buy slave-free chocolate by visiting our store. (still need to set up vendors)

For more information also visit: http://www.thedarksideofchocolate.org/

Amy Ritter is studying international journalism at Biola University in Southern CA and has written extensively on the issue of child slave labor and has interned with Hope & Rescue, helping raise awareness of trafficking.