I am a student in Professor Combellick's Fair Trade: Entrepreneurship class at Fordham University. Nice to meet you all.
I watched "The Dark Side of Chocolate" documentary, and here are my thoughts and reactions:

Some parts of this documentary that stood out to me the most was the fact that many European corporate officials claimed to be unaware of the child trafficking going on in the west coast of Africa and seemed to actually be indifferent towards the possibility of this horror being true. While the children in the Ivory coast suffered unfair pay and grudging work hours working to harvest the cocoa, children and adults from the first world enjoyed the fruits of the hard labour performed by these impoverished children. Patrick Hautfenne, corporate official of Swiss Chocolate giant; Barry Callebaut seemed extremely insincere and seemed unaffected when asked if he believed this trafficking was existent. As he ended his conversation expressing that trafficking is a cruelty that must end, he rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders indicating, he had no sympathy for this topic or for the thousands of children suffering from this dilemma.

Another part of this documentary that stood out to me is how we had a chance to witness this trafficking in action via the narrator's hidden camera. The first girl seen in the documentary was fortunate enough to not have been forced or smuggled, however when questioned, this young girl seemed sad not because she was headed into a dangerous situation, but simply because her family would be angry with her if she didn't make money to bring home. This has me realizing that even at such a young age as 12 years old, Children are being lured to horrible jobs, being offered unfair pay and working long hours simply because their families are so desperate for the funds that this work will provide. These manufacturers know well, that these working conditions are inhuman however, the poverty and desperation of these families makes it easy for these chocolate giants to uses them as pawns to pay little for the cocoa however sell this cocoa for a profit.

What also drew a reaction from me is that these families have become so desperate for a means of income that they no longer care about the health and safety of their children, but rather would choose money over the wellbeing of their family. In this case, we are forced to realize that many of these families really have no choice but to end their children off and accept this job to harvest cocoa for a below fair pay. Why is it that this would never be accepted in a first world country, however it is so widely accepted and shrugged about in third world countries. Why is that these chocolate giants see no reason to treat these third world countries with the same respect it would treat a first world country?

The one thing that brought my spirits up about this documentary was the few children that had the fortune to be rescued every once in a while. It shows me that not everyone takes advantage of a third world vulnerability. However, there are thousands of children suffering this fate everyday, sometimes you wonder, where do we start if we want to officially end this trafficking for good? Is it even possible to do so?

After watching this documentary, I realize that I want no part in this. If I had learned of this years ago I would have decided to make fair trade part of my everyday life. I don't think I can ever look at another piece of chocolate the same or with joy and excitement. When I look at a piece of chocolate I will be thinking about the many africa children who have to slave on fields to make this possible for me to eat one stupid, candy bar. Is it worth it? I think not.