Cocoas Ddark Sside

Has it s ever crossed your mind as to who actually helps in the process
of preparing the heavenly treat we call chocolate? Eloise Wadsworth
ventures out of her comfort zone and visits the farms in West Africa to
investigate more the hidden costs of our sweet treats .
When you unwrap a bar of chocolate and you inhale the smell of complex exotic aromas
wafting in the air, a heart-warming, mouth-watering sensation comes over your body,.
Yyou can feel the chocolate at the tips of your fingers waiting to be devoured. When it
comes to chocolate there is nothing like it. Maybe that is why it only takes approximately
a decade for a typical adult to consume their own body weight in chocolate. (Woodford,
2015) According to the CCN Ffreedom Pproject (2012), the typical chocolate consumption
of an Australian is 5.96 kilograms a year, beating the United States of America by 0.87
kilograms. When these chocolate consumers go to the shops, they see the big brands,
reasonable prices and they buy, unaware of the amount of work that goes into creating
this heavenly treat. It is not what one may have originally thought. For instanceMost
alarming is the reported practice of children as young as 5 are putting their blood, sweat
and tears into harvesting coca beans in order for you to indulge in this delectable delight.
Harvesting these cocoa beans will consequently have a detrimental impact on their
physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing. A human cost far outweighing the
economic.
Cocoa is grown in the tropical climates of West Africa and Latin America. West Africa and
the countries of the Ivory Coast and Ghana supply 70% of the worlds cocoa and is
exposed to the worst forms of child labor. (International Cocoa Initiative, 2007) The
Global march March (2015) states reports that a staggering 1.8 million children aged 5 to
17 work on cocoa plantations that use some of the worst forms of child labor in these two
regions. this This includes the appalling practice of child trafficking.
TOPIC SENTENCE Child trafficking isChildren are often sold to traffickers by relatives
who are unaware of the dangerous work environments and lack of any provisions for an
education. Whereas some children volunteer to go as they are under the impression that
it will lead to a better life and that they will be earning enough money to support their
family. Not to mention the significant numbers of young people that are abducted and
imported from surrounding countries such as Mail, Burkina Faso, Togo and Benin then to
be exploited as cheap labourers. (Anti-slavery, ND) Below details one childs account.
This person said that he would help me. He misled me and told me
lies. I had been told by the people back in my village that Cte
dIvoire was a very beautiful country where I could earn lots of
money, so when the man offered me a job on his friends large cocoa
farm, I decided to travel with the man to the farm. Qutoe by Boromo
(anti-slavery, ND)
Completely unware of what lies ahead for them at their new home in Ghana or the Ivory
Coast, children such as Boromo are full of hope. It is not until they arrive that they realise
it was not what they had envisioned. Some will be provided with shelter, some will be
provided with running water, some will be provided with a bit of food and if the child is
lucky the farm will provide for them an education. (Food Empowerment project, 2016).
.
TOPIC SENTENCE It is not good enough that only a few farms provide an education, it
should be mandatory that all farms give the children the right of education. The Global
Mmarch (2015) asserts that 40% of these cheap child labourers working in cocoa fields
on the Ivory Coast and 10% on Ghana cocoa farms do not attend school. Depriving the

children working on these cocoa farms of an education gives them very little hope of ever
being able to break the cycle of poverty consequently being unable to have the freedom
they deserve. If the child doesnt attend school this will detrimentally impact their social
and mental wellbeing as school can mentally prepare these children for times such as
negotiating deals or basic skills such as counting cocoa beans or pods. The child may feel
excluded or embarrassed because he or she cannot do a task as simple as counting or
negotiating a deal. (Belongto, 2010)
TOPIC SENTENCE If the child does not attend school they are forced to work longer more
intense hours. According to The Guardian (2016), children are forced to work an
excessive 14 hours a day which equals to around 98 hours a week. That is more than
double the standard Australian work week of 38 hours. (Fair work Australian
Ggovernment, ND) The unbearable midday heat where temperatures throughout the year
can average 30-35 degrees. Due to the tropical climate it means that there is also high
humidity. These scorching temperatures can pose a huge threat to the childs health as
they could suffer from heat stroke and due to very limited medical supplies on the farms
this may result in death. (World Vvision, 2012) As well as hazardous conditions, children
are exposed to harsh chemicals.
TOPIC SENTENCE With these two main cocoa bean producing countries being tropical
regions, it means they workers are constantly dealing with prolific insect populations
which means thatleads to the workers, most of which are having the children, havinge to
spray the pods with larged amounts of industrial chemicals. The Food Empowerment
Project (2016) highlights that Tthe children spraying the chemicals are typically not
wearing any protective gear or masks to stop them from inhaling the toxins. (Food
Empowerment Project, 2016) The pesticides that the children spray have been found to
cause headaches, nausea, diarrhea, liver and kidney complications and even cancer.
(World vVision, 2012)
Along with the temperature and pesticides, dangerous equipment also affects the childs
physical wellbeing. Children utilize tools such as machetes to cut off the cocoa bean,
every strike of the machete has the potential to slice a childs flesh. The majority of
children have scars on their hands, arms, legs or shoulders from the machetes. Some
children climb cocoa trees to cut the bean pods using the machetes, this significantly
increases the risk of slicing their skin. (Food Empowerment Project, 2016) As well as the
danger of slicing their flesh with a machete, children can create serious back problems
for themselves by carrying heavy loads such as the bean sacks.
Aly Diabate, a former cocoa slave, said, Some of the bags were taller than me. It
took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didnt hurry, you
were beaten. (Food Empowerment Project, 2016)
Heavy loads can exert an unnatural force of the spine this can hamper the childs overall
growth. The immediate effects of carrying heavy weights such as these bean bags can
include neck, shoulder, and back pain along with fatigue. The long term effects consist of
strain on the neck and shoulder which would lead to headaches. (Saraswat, 2013)
As is evident, working in the cocoa industry presents numerous risks and human costs to
the wellbeing of workers, particularly children. Everyone one of these hazards is a clear
example of damage being done to theThe working conditions and living environment
have clear detrimental effects to child workerss physical, mental and emotional
wellbeing. The childs life and wellbeing is being put in danger by the pesticides, hot
conditions, hazardous tools and heavy loads this effecting their physical wellbeing.
Despite these hefty physical and social costs, Iif the child is unable to work due to an
illness or injury, this will affect their mental and emotional wellbeing as they so
desperately want to be earning money, but they are unable to. (Belong Tto, 2010)

TOPIC SENTENCE Work in the cocoa industry can be quite unstable, Bad weather
conditions, illness or injury can result in the child receiving little or no pay. Due to its
tropical climate bad weather conditions on the farm such torrential rain can result in bad
crops. This then leads to very little beans produced causing the cocoa plantation to
suffer economically. Low and insecure income for the farmers leads to serious social and
environmental problems. The Should farmers stop investing in their farms, they are then
not ableunable to pay sufficient salaries as well as being rendered unable to provide
workers with acceptable accommodation and health care. (Make chocolate Ffair, 2013)
Cocoa farmers already earn less than $2 a day, so when bad weather conditions occur it
often results in even less or no pay. (Food Eempowerment Pproject, 2016) This is also the
case if the child becomes ill or injured and they are unable to work. This can affect their
emotional and physical wellbeing. Not earning money will affect their accommodation
and their health care, therefore putting the childs health at risk. No accommodation
means improper living conditions which can also mentally and emotionally affect the
childs wellbeing as they know they have been tricked thinking they were going to
receive a better life resulting them to develop trust issues.
TOPIC SENTENCE Children and other farmers working on these cocoa plantations are held
against their wills. They are whipped or abused for working slowly or attempting to
escape. There have even been reports that children and adults are locked up at night to
prevent them from escaping. According to Aly Diabate, The beatings were a part of my
life. I had seen others who tried to escape. When they tried, they were severely beaten.
(Food Empowerment project, 2016) This can have a huge impact on the child both
physically and mentally. These whippings and beatings will leave them with physical and
emotional scars. It will leave the children questioning who they can and cant trust which
affects not just the child but their family and community. If the child struggles with
trusting people it will impact on their future dynamics when they want to get a proper
job. These beatings will also cause the child to have less confidence in themselves as
they are made to feel worthless through these beatings. (Chanthavong, 2002)
It is evident that young people in the cocoa child labour industry work under extremely
tough conditions with paltry financial benefits, causing their physical, mental, social and
emotional wellbeing to suffer. Not only are families separated from each other, but the
child slaves become more emotionally isolated. Children become more fearful of other
people and less confident of themselves even after they are no longer involved in the
slavery they have physical and psychological scars that will stay with them for a long
time. They are put through this traumatic experience in order to get this delicious delight
on to the supermarket shelves later to be devoured by someone totally oblivious and
unaware that they are eating the strenuous work of a child slave.

Recommendations for consumers to make ethical choices

Bibliography
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