i had the privilege of co-leading an event called "death by chocolate" at the salem gathering.simply stated, the event gave people the opportunity to taste delicious, fair-trade chocolate and introduced our guests to the story of chaga, a young boy who was enslaved on the cocoa fields of the ivory coast.
after devouring the chocolate and listening to chaga's story, guests were offered information about the current slavery epidemic (studies suggest that 15% of cocoa field workers are child slaves and a terrifying large proportion of young girls engaged in the sex trade are enslaved as well) and were offered suggested steps for further action.
over 400 people attended the event and we're hoping it inspired a couple of dozen to start buying free trade products and incited a future abolitionist or two as well.
all and all, it was an amazing weekend! many thanks to anita coco and the not-for-sale boston crew for making this weekend happen. thank you for inviting me along for the ride!
5 comments:
Thanks for the experience, Jeff!
thanks for your help! it's always great to have experienced advocates by your side. give my thanks to liz as well.
hey give a link to how to find out more about this...
well, the boston not for sale crew doesn't have a website or anything yet, since we're quite new.
chaga's story, which we utilized for the event, can be found in storybook form here: http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolateDownloads/chaga.pdf
helpful anti-slavery websites include
stop the traffik: http://www.stopthetraffik.org/
not for sale: http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/
the polaris project: http://www.polarisproject.org/
thanks for your interest. i hope to provide more info as i learn more about traffiking and the group continues to develop.
Anita's surname is quite appropriate.
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