Easter Chocolate - On Sale Now! But at What Cost?
I’m a self-proclaimed chocoholic. In fact, I’ve referred to
myself as such long before it was common to do so. At the expense of dating
myself, that word was in my vocabulary before the popularity of the internet!
I’ve eaten my share of what was my favorite chocolate
bar—Nestles Crunch. When I was in high school, it was revealed that there were
abuses in Third World nations by the Nestles Corp where they were taking
advantage of poor mothers and children. I’ve boycotted Nestles Corp and their
subsidiary companies for decades because they’ve never apologized for those
abuses. They simply changed them over the years.
I thought I was doing better with Hersheys, Cadbury, Mars
and others. That was until I learned that about 72% of all chocolate sold in
the USA is made from cocoa harvested by slaves, many of whom are children in
West Africa. These slaves are generational. They are born into and work the
cocoa fields all their lives with no hope of education or a better life. They
are refused basic human comforts you and I take for granted while their owners
profit from the harvest from the free labor provided.
I may be a chocoholic, but first, I am human. Those who
suffer are part of my family. I cannot, in good conscience, promote, foster or
ignore the miserable plight of the precious people who are forced to live in
squalor while I munch on candy made so dishonorably.
As I began to do my homework, I found a site called
free2work.org. The site has a search menu that grades companies on how well
they meet international Free Trade standards for products such as chocolate,
jeans, shoes, toys, sports equipment, and many others. When you check it out,
scroll down to “chocolate” and see how well your favorite brand does. The site
also details what criteria must be met for each grade given. For example, with
chocolate, each grade includes how the company rates in their policies,
transparency, monitoring and worker rights. It is a great tool to determine how
the company or brand meets each standard.
When purchasing chocolate at a store or market, I always
check the packaging. Most companies using Free Trade cocoa are proud to share
that information with customers. If a product is in question, our smart phones
are an ideal way to access a wealth of information on a company’s policies. The
choices we make determine our “slavery footprint.” This simply means that we
can reduce the number of slaves that work for us by the way we shop. (Let that
sink in a minute…) You can determine
your current slavery footprint at slaveryfootprint.org. (Caveat- it can be a
rude wake up call to realize how many slaves produced the things we own. But
don’t we owe it to our brothers and sisters around the world to make sure we
are buying slave-free products?)
With Easter just around the corner, many of us will be
looking to fill our children’s baskets with chocolate bunnies and eggs. There
are many Free Trade Chocolates from which to choose. Divine Chocolate, which is one of my
favorites, is on the top of the list. You’ll also find most Free Trade
chocolates are organic. Listen, buying Free Trade can be pricey, but to coin a
phrase, “It may cost more, but it won’t cost someone else their freedom.” That
makes it worth the price!
About the author: Kathy Lebron is the founder and director
of Sparrow’s Hope for Girls, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring
the lives and rebuilding the futures of young survivors of domestic, minor sex
trafficking in the Greater NY area. Check out their Facebook page or email
Kathy at sparrowshopeinc@aol.com
for more information.
Other Resources:
Comments
Post a Comment