Child-Slavery and Chocolate

I have to write a research paper this term on any topic of my choice. I chose to do mine on Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. I figured, Im going there in December, i might as well know a little about where im going! Never in the world would I have expected to find out something so hideous about my own country.

As I began my research I was merely looking for general information. I knew of a Civil War that had occured there in 2002 so I began to see try to figure out why they had a Civil War and all the little updates on it since. I know of a group called the LRA, that is in Uganda, so I began to see if, because of the Civil War, there had been a group that arose from the Rebels that also participated in Child Abduction. The LRA (Lords' Resistance Army) abducts children 12 and under and turns them into soldiers, almost like robotic killing machines. I prayed that I wouldnt find such a group, and while I didnt find a rebel group that was turning children into soldiers, i did find something that i believe is just as bad.

Cote d'Ivoire is one of the worlds, if not the most prominent source of cocoa. Cocoa, if you didnt know, is what Coffee and Chocolate come from. There are farms everywhere in Cote d'Ivoire.
That is not the bad fact that im freaking out over, no, what im freaking out over is that most of these farms are being harvested and cared for by child slaves. did you catch that! CHILDREN!!! CHILDREN are being forced to work on these cocoa farms. Some are abducted, most are trafficed in from the surrounding countries, particularly from Mali.
I saw the pictures of how these CHILDREN are treated. if they are too weak to carry something then they are beaten, if they work too slow, they are beaten. and if they try to run away, thier fate is much worse.
Very seldom do they even try to escape because of fear, and if one does escape successfully, then they go to the authorities who do, thankfully, come in and arrest the farmer and free the Children. but that is something that will leave scars on those kids for life!
What is worse is that since this has been brought to the public eye very little has been done to fix it. to end the slavery for good. Ivorian officials are against it and do stop it when they can for the most part, but there are so many farms and not enough help to end it.
And even worse then that is that since it has been brought to the public eye, American companies have been found out that they are getting their Cocoa supply from these enslaved farms. AND HAVE DONE NOTHING TO STOP IT. they claim that they have no idea where they get their cocoa from and that its not their fault.
America! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!
HERE is one of the articles ive read so far.

"For the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10)

I was watching a documentary on this the other day, this breaks my heart. there is a quote from toward the end of the documentary from one of the teenage boys who was freed from the slavery when the farm he had worked was found out. He was asked, "The Cocoa goes into makeing chocolate, have you ever tasted this chocolate?" He replied, "No, none of us have ever tasted chocolate." then he was asked, "If you ever had the opportunity to talk with the people who eat the chocolate, what would you say to them". He answered "If I had to say something to them it would not be nice words. They enjoy something I suffered to make; I worked hard for them, but saw no benefit. They are eating my flesh."

needless to say, its only Conflict-FREE chocolate and coffee for me.