Hi all! I am in Kate's Entrepreneurship, Fair Trade, and Social Justice class. Apart from watching "The Dark Side of Chocolate," this was the first time I have ever heard of African child trafficking in cocoa plantations. I've heard of social injustice in African countries, but I always discounted it, and was just glad I was living in a safe country. But this class is teaching me there's a reason we have the blessing to live in a country like ours-- to make a difference. And by even saving 5 children from these Ivorian plantations saves 5 children in the world who can sleep at night knowing they are safe and deserve the right of security.
I felt most impacted from listening to the children speak of their trafficking stories. Their naivete of this situation made me so upset. How could someone smuggle these innocent, beautiful children and force them to work on plantations. And on top of that, where the majority are not even paid? These children will forever trained for labor. They are smuggled as young as 10 and continue with this cycle for years, without an education. There's no hope for salvation from these plantations.
I also was sympathetic to the man who had been trying to help save these children, and after speaking with a young girl who had been trafficked, he couldn't help but cry. I thought to myself, why would he bother then? Why put yourself through this, the dangers of even detecting the children in the plantations, or speaking with the traffickers? And I realize his passion is to help people, and to make a difference. I respect him so much, and his tears truly show how disconcerting this situation is.
It was interesting to hear the comments from the president of Côte d'Ivoir. He made it seem that since there is a law, there aren't any problems. Especially anytime other than October through March, there is absolutely no child labor. I am very suspicious of him, because he didn't sound interested at all in this social problem.
I also wasn't surprised that the chocolate companies such as Nestlé declined to comment on the film saying, "these chocolate plantations are not owned by us." Do you have a conscience that the chocolate you are selling is indirectly related to child labor injustice? I am sure there are many people in these chocolate companies who do have a heart, but it's unfortunate how the media paints these companies as selfless. I feel if anyone can take action, it is by interceding with these companies.

Hello everyone! I am Constance from Professor Combellick’s Fair Trade: Entrepreneurship class. I will discuss something about the documentary “The dark side of chocolate” in the following paragraphs.

Although it is not the first time to know about trafficking, I am really shocked by it. According to the documentary, in ivory coast, parents sell their children because they are so poor to afford the expense of families. As a result, the children were forced to pick the cocoa bean without money. Furthermore, if they don’t do it, people who charged for their task will beat them. The older children want to run away and hide for many days but are caught back soon. It is really hard to imagine how to endure such a life.

The trafficking children from their parents is immoral. Every parent regards child as the most important things. And children at around 10 years old are supposed to study in the school to accept education. It is short sighting to destroy the next generation only for labor.

Simultaneously, the attitudes of leaders in government and factories can not be tolerated. The government leaders may receive the bribery and make acquiesces to the trafficking children and respond to the Miki Mistrat’s interview, they said: “it is not a big problem” and “ we have thought about some solutions to handle it.” And the manager of the cocoa industries is more apathetic: “We just know nothing about trafficking, and the workers are all adults”.

The corruption between the government and industries exacerbated. Only a few people are rich in the cocoa plantation area. The discrepancy between rich and poor expands gradually. Government knew the crime in the society but pay no attention to it, allowing people to abduct and traffick ignorant children.