Cocoa Children at Work


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Every day of the week,

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200 million children around the world go out to work.

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'Children who work in circuses in Russia...

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'..on chocolate plantations in Africa...

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'..children who work in Bollywood...

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'..and children who want to be Africa's next big football star.'

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Welcome to the world of Children At Work.

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I'm Hazel Lindsey and I've come to one Ghana's

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largest cocoa growing regions to see how children here help to create

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one of the world's best-loved luxuries - chocolate.

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Children in the UK eat more chocolate

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than any other kids in Europe.

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And around 70% of the world's cocoa is grown in West Africa.

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That means most of the chocolate we all eat, starts its life here.

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The children of the region often play an important

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and controversial role in the process -

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working in the cocoa plantations.

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I'll be spending a week in a typical cocoa village

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in the Ashanti region of Ghana

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to find out more about how children here live and work.

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The village is about five hours' drive from the capital, Accra.

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It's called Akyem Ofoase.

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The roads are pretty rough around here, so you can't drive very fast.

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There we go.

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It's so dusty.

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'I'll be staying in the local guesthouse,

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'usually home to visiting business people.

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'There aren't any tourists here.'

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Brilliant.

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'It's a world away from home, where cooking and chocolate

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'are two of my favourite things.'

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So, I'll add three bags of those.

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I know my chocolate very well.

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'Or I thought I did.'

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'But going to Ghana in West Africa, where much of the cocoa

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'that goes into our chocolate is grown,

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'makes me realise, there's a lot more to it than I thought.

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'Akyem Ofoase is home to about 7,000 people.'

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You're very pretty.

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'And although I'm a stranger here,

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'I'm made to feel welcome straightaway.'

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It's just amazing, Like, yesterday,

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I was in the freezing cold in England and now, it's boiling hot

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and I'm surrounded by all these beautiful children.

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I'm so excited to find out about the cocoa growing

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and it's just brilliant, really. So excited.

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'The kids get really excited whenever they see my camera.'

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Say cheese.

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'I don't think they've ever seen themselves in a photograph before.

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'I'd like to find out more about them and their lives.

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'In particular, as a newly qualified science teacher,

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'I wonder if they go to school.'

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-Do they like school?

-He said he goes to school.

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-Do they like it?

-Yeah.

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'The kids clearly love going to school,

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'but what's their favourite subject?'

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-Maths.

-Maths.

-English.

-English.

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-Science.

-Science!

-ICT.

-ICT.

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'But they say there is only one computer at school,

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'which they all have to share. They all have big ambitions -

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'when they grow up, they want good jobs outside the cocoa village,

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'as doctors or footballers.

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'Sadly, most children who live in West Africa's cocoa villages

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'won't even go on to secondary education.'

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One, two, three, jump.

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One, two, three. Yeah!

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'The majority here will grow up to be adult farm workers.

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'Despite all this ambition, there aren't the opportunities to match.'

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'I'm here to meet 11-year-old Patrick Tawaih,

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'whose family have been cocoa farmers for generations.

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'His house is right in the middle of the village,

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'where there's no running water or electricity.

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'Most people in country areas in Ghana

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'survive on about 75 pence a day,

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'and Patrick's family are no exception.'

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So, this is your kitchen? Brilliant. Is that...? What's in here?

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'He shares his one-room house and front yard

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'with his extended family of aunties, uncles and their children.

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'Everything happens right here, in his front yard -

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'work, rest, chatting, snoozing.

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'There's a real sense of community here.

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'All under the watchful eye of the family's animals.'

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And your goat, which is happily eating.

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You do your washing-up here? I'm following you.

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'Patrick's uncle owns the family's cocoa farm.

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'And they're all keen to show me round

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'so we set off straightaway for the plantation,

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'which is about 20 minutes' walk from the village.

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'It's estimated that, in Africa,

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'between 56 and 72 million children work in agriculture.'

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The ground's really uneven, it's boiling, boiling hot,

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so humid and sweaty.

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'Hot and humid are exactly the right conditions for growing cocoa,

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'but horrible to work in.

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'All the same, there are 600,000 small, family farms, like this one,

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'all over Ghana...'

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Do they grow on the trunks?

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'..and they produce most of the country's cocoa.'

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They grow, like, up the trunk? I did not know that!

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'Today, Patrick's uncle is giving me a crash course in cocoa production.'

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-I had no idea at all that cocoa pods grew up, around the trunk.

-This one.

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-Oh, it's good.

-That one's ripe?

-This one is ripe.

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-And...

-And this one, it's not quite ripe.

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And they just keep going, up and up. It's amazing.

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I can't believe how magical this place is.

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There's trees literally everywhere.

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I didn't realise they grew so close together.

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And the way that all the cocoa pods wind themselves around the trunks,

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it's just amazing.

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One thing that I've really noticed is the leaf litter.

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I think you can probably hear it.

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I'm scraping through so many cocoa pod leaves.

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Obviously, in leaves there can be hidden snakes,

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so it's not surprising that lots and lots of children get bitten.

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'In Ghana, it's illegal for children under 13 to work.

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'After that, they're allowed to do light work

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'that won't interfere with their schooling.

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'11-year-old Patrick is one of the lucky ones, as he attends school.

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'But many thousands of children in cocoa-growing areas

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'don't go to school regularly because they're working so hard in the plantations.'

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Wow. That's nothing like chocolate.

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Just eat and see.

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-You can eat it!

-Hmm.

-What does it taste like?

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-Don't chew it!

-We don't chew it.

-Ah!

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-We don't chew it.

-No? Aaah.

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My mouth doesn't taste very nice! Can I spit it out?

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Well, that was a huge disaster.

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Instead of just, basically, sucking the white pulp,

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which is beautifully sweet-tasting, I took three of these into my mouth

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and bit into them and, right in the middle, is the cocoa bean

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which happens to be the most bitter thing I've ever put in my mouth. It was absolutely disgusting.

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'Back in the village,

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'I discover that, as well as helping out on the farm,

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'Patrick has his own nursery for cocoa plants,

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'which he wants to show me.'

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-Oh, wow, Patrick. So, here are all your cocoa plants.

-Yes.

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Where did you get them from?

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-Farm.

-The farm. And how long have they been here for?

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-Nearly three weeks.

-Three weeks?

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-And how long until they are fully grown?

-Don't know.

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-One week or two weeks.

-So, in two weeks they'll be ready.

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-So, you'll sell the plants to cocoa growers, basically?

-Yes.

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Then they plant them in their plantations.

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-How much do they pay you for each plant?

-20 pesways.

-20 pesways.

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'That's about 15 pence a plant,

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'which goes towards Patrick's family's income

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'and makes them relatively well-off.

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'I'm beginning to realise that if the children didn't work on the farms,

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'they'd go short of money and food.

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'It's a tough choice.

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'Early next morning, I set off with another group of children

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'from the village on their long walk to the cocoa plantations.

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'In the heart of the forest, it's surprisingly busy.

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'Kids are on their way to school, gathering firewood

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'and making sure that their best shoes are kept nice for school.'

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Oh, gosh, they're moving quickly.

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'Nearly all the boys here help out on their families' farms.

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'They're just some of the millions of children who work on farms all over Africa every day.

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'They're an invisible workforce.

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'I'm interested to hear what they've got to say about their working lives.'

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Tell me about a typical day during the harvest season.

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TRANSLATION

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'Cocoa growing is a hazardous occupation for these children.'

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So, what happened when you hurt yourself?

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Ow. Does that happen often?

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A snake! Was it poisonous?

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Does it make you afraid to come back out?

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'The cocoa farmer they're working with today

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'says he feels responsible for their well-being.'

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How do you feel when they injure themselves?

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'In spite of the hazards they face, the children told me that they enjoyed working

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'as a team of friends.'

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Do you like working with all the other children?

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'I'd always thought that children who had to work would be unhappy

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'and resentful. But meeting these kids has made me re-think that.

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'All the same, just because they don't seem to mind,

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'doesn't mean it's right.

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'To find out more about 11-year-old Patrick's everyday life,

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'I'm spending the day with him at home.'

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Thank you very much, Patrick.

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'Patrick and his auntie Regina have invited me

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'to look around the house.'

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-So, is this where you sleep with your family?

-Yes.

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And there's your little brother, fast asleep.

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How many people sleep here at night?

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-Ten.

-Ten. Wow. Ten people.

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-Is this one of Patrick's brothers or sisters?

-Yeah.

-Hello.

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-Desmond. His name is Desmond.

-Desmond. Hello, you're beautiful.

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-He doesn't know what to make of it all. And who's this?

-Kwami.

-Kwami.

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Fast asleep on the floor.

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-Is he ill?

-Yes.

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'One-year-old Kwami has malaria,

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'a disease which is carried by mosquitoes.

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'The cramped living conditions mean that serious diseases like malaria

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'and typhoid, which is caused by poor hygiene,

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'are both common here, in the village,

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'and they can be deadly, especially for babies and children.'

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-Regina, what are you drinking?

-Medicine.

-Medicine. What is it for?

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-What do you drink it for?

-For typhoid.

-For typhoid.

-Yeah.

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-Is this it here?

-Yeah.

-Let's have a look.

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-Wow, we've got a real selection.

-Cocoa leaves.

-Cocoa leaves.

-Yeah.

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-Mahogany bark.

-Yeah.

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-And this one.

-Star fruit.

-Star fruit, yeah.

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It's got a very smoky smell, actually.

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-And then, you just pour it into your cup?

-Yeah.

-And it helps?

-Yeah.

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'It's a poor substitute for the vaccination against typhoid

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'that I had before I came here, but it's all they've got.'

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-Is typhoid a real problem round here?

-Yes. It's a problem.

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'The village is completely dependent on cocoa farming for its living.

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'It's hard to believe that chocolate,

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'which we all think of as a luxury, a treat,

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'starts off in a place where there are no luxuries at all.'

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So, tell me what's happening here.

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'The traditional way of drying the beans is to leave them

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'for six days in the plantation, wrapped in banana leaves.

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'This stops them being eaten by animals.

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'Then, they're put on drying mats, all around the village

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'for another week or so.

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'I was amazed to discover that there are no machines involved at all

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'in the production of cocoa here.

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'Everything is done by hand, just as it was 200 years ago,

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'when slaves here first cultivated cocoa for the European market.

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'As well as helping with cocoa production,

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'children are expected to do a lot of household chores.

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'Even ones that involve heavy lifting.

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'Patrick often has to collect the family's water.

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'He's going to take me to the bore hole which provides a clean supply

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'for the whole village.'

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This is the bore hole. Show me how to do it. Do you have to just pump?

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And that will bring up the water from deep underground, nice and clean, I can see.

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Fantastic. We can cook the dinner now.

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Shall I have a go? See how easily I can carry this on my head.

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That's so heavy, I can barely lift it above my head.

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Ah, wow.

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It's really, really, really heavy.

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I'm spilling it everywhere!

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'Everything I take for granted at home -

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'turning on a tap, doing the washing in a washing machine,

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'cooking on a cooker, even taking a shower - just doesn't exist here.

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'It means that everything takes an effort and everyone has to help out.

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'Childhood here is hard work.

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'This evening, I'm going to be eating with Patrick's family.

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'I'm not sure what's on the menu, but I get a bit worried when I see what the neighbours are having.'

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Bush meat, and I can see lots of legs.

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I think I can see a jawbone right there!

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It's a very small animal, whatever it is.

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'It's a bush rat and it's served up with fufu,

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'which is pounded cassava and yam.'

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It's very interesting.

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'It's the end of the day, and back in Patrick's yard,

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'his family are also getting ready to eat.'

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I'm just sat watching Patrick's dinner cook

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with his gorgeous sister, Precious.

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His mum's just finished adding some spices to the soupy mix.

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I'm really surprised by how many chickens and goats...

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I don't know if you can see them, just scratching around. It's brilliant.

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'It takes quite a while to cook a meal for ten people on an open fire.

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'I'm just relieved that we're not having bush rat for dinner.'

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Patrick's mum's showing me how to make a rice dish

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and I think she's going to mould it together in her hands.

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-Using a saucer to pull it out. That looks really hot.

-Hot.

-Very hot.

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Ha!

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-It's absolutely boiling.

-It's hot.

-Ow. Is this cold water?

-Yeah.

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It's not as good as yours.

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Patrick's mum has some skewers of fish and she's taking them off

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and rinsing them in water. So, the fish are going into the soup.

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'I've been made to feel so at home by Patrick's family, it's brilliant.

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'Seeing how they make ends meet on about 70 pence a day -

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'about the same price as bar of chocolate at home -

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'it does make me wonder why we don't pay more for our chocolate.

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'If we did, it might make their lives quite different.'

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I slept quite well.

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The electricity kept cutting out, so my fan was intermittent.

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So it was boiling hot, but it's all part of the experience.

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And I'm having a brilliant time.

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'What the last few days have made me think,

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'is how easily we take for granted the chocolate we eat.

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'At home, chocolate means enjoyment, celebration, a taste of luxury.

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'Here, it's just a way of earning the bare minimum.

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'Patrick manages to combine education

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'with helping out on the cocoa farm,

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'and I'm curious to see what his school is like.'

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It's eight o'clock in the morning, I'm visiting Patrick's school.

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It's brilliant to be here,

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all the children are so beautifully turned out.

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Patrick's already been really busy cleaning the school,

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picking up rubbish.

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'In Africa, it's quite usual for children to be responsible

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'for cleaning the schools themselves.

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'When I saw the teachers carrying sticks,

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'I wondered what they were going to be doing with them.

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'I didn't realise they'd be using them on the children.

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'The children here treat it as normal.

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'After cleaning up, it's time for Patrick to join everyone else

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'for prayers, as this is a Catholic school.'

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THEY PREY IN GHANAIAN LANGUAGE

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'Ghana is a mainly Christian country,

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'a legacy of its history as a former British colony.

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'There's free education for all Ghanaian children

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'up until the age of 15.

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'But because they have to provide their uniforms and books,

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'it often means that children can't afford to attend school.

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'Patrick's more fortunate.'

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Patrick attends school every day, from eight till two,

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and he's going to show me what one of his classes is like.

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'They're learning about prime numbers.

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'It's noisy in class and difficult to concentrate.

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'Very few of the children have exercise books.'

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What is it?

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Looking around, it seems that only a few people actually have books.

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I think everyone's having to remember

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everything they're being taught.

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Three divided by three?

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-One.

-One.

-One.

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'To me, it seems a very old-fashioned way of learning.

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'It's quite repetitive and boring.'

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Two times three times three. Do not include one.

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-Hurry up.

-I'm quite shocked by the discipline in this classroom

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-cos the teacher's walking around with a stick.

-Go to classes.

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More than half of children from cocoa villagers

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finish their primary education without being able to read or write.

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When I met some children out in the cocoa plantation,

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I asked the farmer they were working for

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what he thought of them missing out on school.

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TRANSLATION

0:22:190:22:20

Do you think it's right that you should be working in the cocoa plantations?

0:22:240:22:27

Or that you should be at home playing?

0:22:270:22:30

TRANSLATION

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-Do you like school?

-Yes.

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Why do you like school?

0:22:380:22:40

What would you like to be when you're older?

0:22:430:22:45

TRANSLATION

0:22:450:22:47

A doctor.

0:22:500:22:51

Do you want your children to become cocoa farmers when they're older?

0:23:040:23:07

'So, what do these children think about the chocolate that we eat?

0:23:290:23:33

'I've brought some for them to try.'

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It's too smooth, sweet.

0:23:360:23:38

'Because we add a lot of milk and sugar to our chocolate,

0:23:400:23:42

'the children don't seem to like it very much.

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'In fact, the children in this village don't eat much chocolate,

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'as I discover later, when I go with Patrick to his local sweet shop.'

0:23:510:23:55

So, which sweets do you like best, Patrick?

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I love the way they sell toothbrushes at the sweet shop.

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There's a mixture of things here.

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But, interestingly, I can't see any chocolate.

0:24:030:24:06

'Of course, chocolate would melt in the heat here.'

0:24:060:24:10

Can I see them?

0:24:100:24:11

'The local sweet shop is one of the few places

0:24:110:24:14

'which offers treats for the children.

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'It's a welcome break in their routine.

0:24:160:24:19

'There isn't much for the children to do here.'

0:24:190:24:21

I like this, Patrick, it's good.

0:24:210:24:23

'There are no playgrounds in the village,

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'no books, no iPods, no toys.

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'But the children always find something to play with.

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'And, as I've got to know them, I've become very attached to them.

0:24:320:24:37

'Now that it's time to leave, I feel very sad.

0:24:400:24:42

'But today, I'm moving on to Accra, the country's capital and main port.

0:24:440:24:48

'After the simplicity of the cocoa village,

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'it's a bit of a shock to the system

0:24:530:24:55

'to be back in all the noise and commotion of the city.'

0:24:550:24:59

I love bustling towns because there's so much to look at

0:24:590:25:02

and there's always people trying to sell you things.

0:25:020:25:04

Thank you very much. Thank you.

0:25:040:25:08

'And after all the chocolate,

0:25:140:25:15

'I can't resist a nice, cool drink of coconut milk.'

0:25:150:25:19

Thank you.

0:25:220:25:23

It's delicious.

0:25:260:25:27

'Here, in Accra, I'm going to talk to Bright Appiah.

0:25:290:25:33

'He's the director of Child Rights International, which campaigns against child labour.

0:25:330:25:38

'He says it continues to be a problem,

0:25:380:25:40

'partly because of parents' traditional attitudes to their kids.'

0:25:400:25:45

Because I strongly believe that people do not respect

0:25:450:25:48

the dignity of children.

0:25:480:25:49

They feel that children are their property

0:25:490:25:52

-and they can use their child to do anything at all.

-Anything they wish.

0:25:520:25:56

Who's really to blame?

0:25:560:25:58

Is it us as consumers, spending too little on our chocolate?

0:25:580:26:01

Is it the government? Is it the farmers themselves?

0:26:010:26:04

Or even the chocolate manufacturers? It's such a long chain, isn't it?

0:26:040:26:08

There's a chain of responsibility, that you have mentioned.

0:26:080:26:12

All of us need to look at it.

0:26:120:26:14

But I think that the final consumer of the product

0:26:140:26:17

has a lot of say in all these matters.

0:26:170:26:21

Because if children are doing this, you know,

0:26:210:26:25

we can also speak out and tell them that, yes, enough is enough,

0:26:250:26:30

we need to give children their place.

0:26:300:26:32

'As the sacks of beans are made ready to be shipped to Europe

0:26:360:26:39

'on the final stage of their journey,

0:26:390:26:42

'I want to hear what the chocolate manufacturers are doing

0:26:420:26:45

'about replacing the main ingredients in the process - child workers.

0:26:450:26:50

'Back home in the UK, I'm in London to meet Nick Weatherill

0:26:570:27:01

'who's from the International Cocoa Initiative.

0:27:010:27:04

'They represent chocolate manufacturers, governments

0:27:040:27:06

'and other organisations

0:27:060:27:08

'and say they're committed to getting rid of child labour.

0:27:080:27:11

'He says that parents have no choice about whether their children work on the farms.'

0:27:110:27:15

It's clear that if a poor African household, a family,

0:27:150:27:20

doesn't have enough money to feed themselves,

0:27:200:27:24

then they will use whatever resources they've in got the house,

0:27:240:27:28

and that includes their own children, to increase the income they can get.

0:27:280:27:32

'So, will child labour in the cocoa industry

0:27:320:27:36

'ever be a thing of the past?'

0:27:360:27:38

With all of the right factors in place,

0:27:380:27:40

and that means consumers demanding that their cocoa isn't contributing

0:27:400:27:46

to the problem of child labour, governments putting in the right resources

0:27:460:27:50

so that kids can go to school,

0:27:500:27:52

companies ensuring that farmers are getting sufficient revenue

0:27:520:27:57

from their production. If all of this happens then,

0:27:570:28:00

we really believe that we can solve this problem.

0:28:000:28:04

Oh!

0:28:040:28:05

'It's been a privilege to meet Patrick

0:28:050:28:07

'and the children of Akyem Ofoase

0:28:070:28:09

'and I'm really sad to have left them.

0:28:090:28:12

'I'll never look at chocolate or eat it in the same way again.

0:28:130:28:17

'But most of all, I'd like to think that by enjoying chocolate

0:28:180:28:21

'and giving cocoa farmers a better deal, we might also, one day,

0:28:210:28:25

'be giving these children the right to a childhood.'

0:28:250:28:28

Applause. Yeah! Very good.

0:28:320:28:36

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