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Ivory Coast
Most of us associate chocolate with good things… but things are far from good in the working practices on many of the cocoa plantations that produce the chocolate.
“David” (not his real name) was 14 years old when he was forced to work as a slave on a cocoa plantation in Cote d’Ivoire. Originally from neighbouring Mali, David was stolen from his parents, shipped to the Ivory Coast and sold as a slave to a cocoa farm. "When people eat chocolate, it’s as if they are eating my flesh", he says. David earned no money for his work. He stayed on the plantation in the hope that his long-promised wages would eventually materialise. He was barely fed and his back bears the scars from the beating that almost killed him.
Almost half the world's cocoa beans are grown in western Africa and almost half the world’s chocolate production starts in the Ivory Coast. Most of the labourers in the industry are teenagers like David. Like him, they are bought and sold for as little as £20, having come from poorer countries looking for work. Most of them will never see their families again.
When the British chocolate industry began more than 200 years ago, it was founded on a philosophy of doing good. For the Quaker Cadbury, Rowntree and Terry families, “exploitation” was a dirty word, while it was common place elsewhere. It seems incongruous to link present day practices with the chocolate that still carries those families’ names.
David was fortunate. He managed to escape from the cocoa farm, after several attempts and several beatings. He forfeited his promised wages but he now works for a Christian employer who pays him fairly.
Many Christians are taking a stand against the illegal use of child labour. You too can make a difference to the lives of children like David by prayer, purchasing Fairtrade products and writing to chocolate manufacturers telling them you want to buy clearly labelled products that have not exploited children in their production.
This is an edited version of an article first published in the Christian Herald (www.christianherald.org.uk) reproduced with permission.
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