Pretty damning article about Cocoa’s child laborers.
Didn’t mean to dismiss the legit issue.
I’m trying to break my once-in-a-while addiction addiction to sweet things and to chocolate.
Now I can consider the moral and ethical issues raised in the article.
In a really really poor place with little chance of opportunity, if you take away the nearly-forced-labor or absolutely-forced-labor of children, what income sources are still available to most poor families?
@f00l True enough. I’ve been working since I was 11…before that I sold Christmas Cards door-to-door back when it was safe for a kid to do that.
I recently had to have a new underground land line laid for the pool…the guy had his high-school aged son and a buddy out there digging the trench. They did a great job. He charged me adult wages for a two-man crew for 7 hours so I hope the kids got most of it.
@therealjrn
I also had odd jobs from the time I was 10 or so, and real ones from when I turned 16, and throughout college.
But I also had a middle-class & educated family, in a good neighborhood, in a decent city, in a community that was normally v kind to children and protective of us.
OMG, re the conditions under which the truly poor try to live, in some countries.
Having known people that have spent time in that area of Africa, the problem also is that the men do not work.
Maybe it’s the culture for them to literally do almost no work, while the women and children do the work and meals for the family, making the money needed.
They were installing wells and teaching how to care for the wells along with some construction projects. The men did none of the work, but mostly just sat and watch the women and children help with the process. As they stayed there down there for a while, they saw the same thing in every one of the villages. There were very few exceptions, though a couple of the men did finally help a bit.
I dunno…
Bezos said, when he bought the Post, that he would take a “hands off” approach to the news/feature content and to the editorial stance.
Is that because he has chocolate on his hands?
/giphy chocolate hands
@f00l
I can’t bring myself to change out that /giphy
For the sake of relevance, I’ll try this:
/giphy “melts in your mouth, not in your hand”
@f00l Oh lordy lordy… I remember that commercial!
@therealjrn
Didn’t mean to dismiss the legit issue.
I’m trying to break my once-in-a-while addiction addiction to sweet things and to chocolate.
Now I can consider the moral and ethical issues raised in the article.
In a really really poor place with little chance of opportunity, if you take away the nearly-forced-labor or absolutely-forced-labor of children, what income sources are still available to most poor families?
It can be a damned hard cold world.
@f00l True enough. I’ve been working since I was 11…before that I sold Christmas Cards door-to-door back when it was safe for a kid to do that.
I recently had to have a new underground land line laid for the pool…the guy had his high-school aged son and a buddy out there digging the trench. They did a great job. He charged me adult wages for a two-man crew for 7 hours so I hope the kids got most of it.
@therealjrn
I also had odd jobs from the time I was 10 or so, and real ones from when I turned 16, and throughout college.
But I also had a middle-class & educated family, in a good neighborhood, in a decent city, in a community that was normally v kind to children and protective of us.
OMG, re the conditions under which the truly poor try to live, in some countries.
@f00l We don’t know how good we’ve got it huh…if I start feeling guilty a nice chocolate bar will perk me back up.
@therealjrn
/giphy molten chocolate
Having known people that have spent time in that area of Africa, the problem also is that the men do not work.
Maybe it’s the culture for them to literally do almost no work, while the women and children do the work and meals for the family, making the money needed.
They were installing wells and teaching how to care for the wells along with some construction projects. The men did none of the work, but mostly just sat and watch the women and children help with the process. As they stayed there down there for a while, they saw the same thing in every one of the villages. There were very few exceptions, though a couple of the men did finally help a bit.
I dunno…
@daveinwarsh Please, tell us how it should be done. What would Americans do?
He said he dunno…what would you recommend @cadmore?