Drissa's story
Nasty Secret behind the bar
Chocolate is such a sweet treat for us, yet did you know that it is not so sweet for children living in countries where cocoa trees grow? Read Drissa’s story:
"I travelled over 300 miles from home in search of work. I worked on a cocoa plantation in the Ivory Coast. I worked from dawn till dusk tending and collecting the cocoa pods. Since I was often given only braised banana to eat for months at a time, I was weak from hunger. If I slowed in my work, I was beaten. When I tried to run away, I was savagely beaten. I felt like a slave!”
Drissa, from Mali, was enslaved as a teenager for five-and-a-half years
Like Drissa, hundreds of thousands of children have to work on cocoa plantations in such dangerous conditions – they have to use the sharp machetes to cut the pods down and often have to work very long hours. They don’t have the opportunity to go to school if there is one nearby. Worst still – most of the time, they don’t even get paid for their hard work!!! Their children’s rights are being violated.
Children don’t just have to work on cocoa plantations, click here to find out what other working children do.
Find out how Fair Trade Protects Children’s Rights
