Remember Fair Trade candy this Halloween

As our children celebrate Halloween with door to door trick or treating and parties, let’s remember also the children on cocoa farms in West Africa who don’t have much joy in their lives, no freedom or opportunity to go to school. They are laboring children or, worse yet, slaves sold to work long hard hours doing heavy lifting and using dangerous chemicals and machetes.

Watch online the movie, “The Dark Side of Chocolate” by Miki Mistrati and U Roberto Romano and you will learn how and why children end up on cocoa farms and how the chocolate companies operate. You will want to support Fair Trade Certified chocolate as an alternative to this exploitation. You will feel much better knowing there were no children involved in the Fair Trade certified production because their parents can afford to send them to school.

Also you will be happy that the farmers received a fair price, a social premium and protected the environment. This Halloween there will be children visiting homes giving out Fair Trade Certified chocolate samples as well as parents giving them out to children who come to their door. Please contact your favorite chocolate company and ask them to do the right thing by using Fair Trade certified chocolate with a guaranteed fair price, social premium and third party certifier.

Jane Dow

Mankato Area Fair Trade Town Initiative