Where does your chocolate come from?

Today my son bought some chocolate. I have not often thought about the origins of chocolate, I know that, like coffee, there are issues of fair-trade involved...but as I don't eat chocolate (I get headaches from it) and that my cacoa powder is from a reputable company, it just never occured to me to find out the origins of what my kids and husband eat.

Just now I happened onto an article which has left me fairly shaken...perhaps I am just naive or uniformed that I didn't know this was happening...child slave labor to grow and harvest cacao...

2011 and children are still being sold into slave labor by impoverished villages for chocolate which ends up in our "wealthy" western diets.

I am shocked

I am horrified

I cannot not share this....

I will spare you the gritty pictures (you can find them yourself on the web as I did) but I will not spare the question: "Where does your chocolate come from?"

How do I stop this practice....first step for me - CONSUMER POWER! Buy only certified fair trade chocolate, cacoa powder and coffee or don't buy at all. (I have contacted Superfoods to find out the origins of their cacoa products.)



Next step - prayer and support for those who fight this horrible crime against children.