I know we want to forget sometimes. Forget about the unspeakable things happening around us. I know sometimes it is irritating when we’re reminded. When we’re interrupted.
Take something as sweet and simple as chocolate. Scott and I have a date night planned this week to pick up a few small things for Norah’s Easter basket. It will not include chocolate. Did you realize that most of that yummy chocolate was processed by children who are slaves? Who have never even tasted chocolate? Who apply pesticides without protective gear? Who use adult tools? I’m talking about M&M’s and Hershey’s Kisses. Do you think the owners of these big companies don’t know about the source of their cocoa? Nope, they do. In fact, in 2001 they agreed to change. But they didn’t. Even those Cadbury Easter Eggs won’t be fairly-traded until the end of this year.
I know. I’m messing with things that touch close to home. But, as the video below mentions, we have dolphin-safe tuna. Why can’t we make products without injuring and exploiting children?
I have been in a room with little girls who were rescued from slavery. I cannot forget.
Want to do more? Take a look at an older post with lists of ideas to get started. Even something as small as skipping chocolate or buying fair-trade chocolate is a beginning.
Inexplicable Ways 
Amen! My brother-in-law works at a new slavery free chocolate company in San Francisco- TCHO. It is yummy! Check them out at tcho DOT com (he is the one on the cell phone in their homepage picture!)
Ooo Jenn, that is so cool! And what a sweet company to work for! I’m going to link directly to TCHO’s no-slavery page. http://www.tcho.com/tcho-is/no-slavery
I have been struggling to think of ideas to do for Easter that don’t involve Chocolate for my 3 year old (and now you’ve given me another great reason to avoid it!). What kinds of things will you be doing? We will be dying boiled eggs with cellophane and apparently peeled boiled eggs soaked in beetroot juice turn the yolks purple but the whites stay white, so we might try that too. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!
Here is my post from our natural-dying easter egg experiment last year: https://inexplicableways.com/2008/03/16/hoppin-down-the-bunny-trail/
Things I have in mind for Norah’s basket: some seeds or a small plant to grow–I’ve been reading about growing carrots in a deep pot instead of in the garden. She loves carrots and I’ve heard the easter bunny does too. An exotic fruit she hasn’t tried yet. new gardening gloves and a watering pot. a kite.
That makes me sad. I hadn’t thought much about chocolate not being fair-trade. It just seems like we’re so dependent on big-box everything that you can barely get through a day without buying a product that’s harmful to someone. I know I buy things I shouldn’t, but most of the time I don’t know how they were made or where to get a suitable alternative. And I agree, it’s funny how people won’t eat at some fast food places because of the way they mistreat hens, but some of those same people don’t know/care about the humans who suffer for what they buy. Someone asked a question on Yahoo Answers (for Christian parents) wanting to know if it was better to give kids chocolate bunnies or chocolate crosses. I answered and linked to this and got some thumbs down. People don’t want to know. But naturally, you can buy those chocolate crosses at Wal-Mart! What’s the point of buying your kid a Christian symbol if it wasn’t made under Christian principles?
Thanks for that link to last years post. That looks like a lot of fun!!
My Mom and I watched this together last week and we had no idea that this was going on. Thank you for opening our eyes to this. Our Easter baskets this year contain no chocolate. How could you eat that after knowing how it comes about? Thank you for making me more aware.
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