by Kattie Somerfeld

Lutheran World Relief Joins West African Farmers in bringing Fairly Traded Chocolate to the United States

It is just before 5 a.m., and the sky is still dark over the Ghanaian countryside in West Africa. In thousands of houses, young boys are waking on hard floors and heading out to work on empty stomachs.

Throughout the Ivory Coast, thousands of children will be forced to work the cocoa fields today. Thousands more will labor as indentured servants. Scant food, no education, and little hope: This is the daily reality of many of the world’s poorest children.

Prince is awake this morning as well. Yet unlike his peers, Prince knows that his day will not be filled with toil and abuse. He rises this day knowing that hope and opportunity have come to his community. For 14–year–old Prince, opportunity means education: He attends school for nine hours a day. He wants to help the community that is helping him achieve his dream of becoming a doctor. He now speaks not of servitude, but of serving others. Many of the ailments and diseases that have sickened and even killed people among his friends and family could have easily been treated with simple medications. "I am tired of losing people," he says. "I will help to keep my people alive."

ACTING BOLDLY
This is the story of Prince’s community: a co–operative of Ghanaian cocoa farmers who have dared to transform their future. And this is also the story of our community: Lutherans throughout the United States who have pledged to support Fair Trade chocolate.

For as long as they can remember, the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo have toiled at the difficult work of growing, maintaining, and harvesting their cocoa crops, only to sell their cocoa beans at unfairly low prices and send them off to be turned into products they would never see or taste.

Yet what if things were different? What if the farmers themselves could own a chocolate company, thereby ensuring not only a fair price for their cocoa beans, but also a share of chocolate sales around the world? In a bold move, the farmers of Kuapa Kokoo did just that, creating the Day Chocolate Company, a British corporation, to produce Divine Chocolate. As co–owners (at 47 percent), the farmers are involved in business decisions from "bean to bar," and benefit not only when they sell their beans at a Fair Trade price, but again when they receive a share of the profits from the sales of cocoa products.

Kuapa’s mission is to empower farmers in their efforts to gain a dignified livelihood, to increase women’s participation in all of Kuapa’s activities, and to develop environmentally friendly cultivation of cocoa. Their motto is "pa pa pa," "the best of the best," in the local Twi language. For these farmers, their business venture is about more than just money — Divine Chocolate means dignity, empowerment, and freedom. By addressing the root causes that lead to severe poverty and child slavery in the cocoa industry, Kuapa is setting a bold example for farmers, corporations, and consumers around the world.

After eight years of successfully marketing their chocolate in Great Britain, these innovative farmers are bringing their dream to the United States. In support, Lutherans have stepped up to make this dream a reality. Lutheran World Relief (LWR), in partnership with the more than 47,000 members of Kuapa Kokoo, is an initial investor in Divine Chocolate, USA. Through LWR’s investment, Lutherans are now stakeholders in the world’s only farmer–owned brand of chocolate.

CHOCOLATE WITH A HEART
Life is not easy for the thousands of small–scale cocoa farmers whose labor produces 90 percent of the world’s cocoa. Working 16-hour days, walking miles through hot and dangerous tropical forests, they tend the delicate cocoa trees and protect them from pests and disease. For many, the fruit of their labor is bitter indeed. Forced to sell their beans at the current market price, most farmers struggle to support their families on less than two dollars a day.

Some 46 percent of Americans joke they can’t live without chocolate. Without Fair Trade, cocoa farming families literally can’t live.

Low cocoa prices leave many farmers in desperate situations, forcing parents to keep their children out of school to work as farm laborers. More than 60 percent of the working children on West African cocoa farms are under the age of 14 and, while both boys and girls are employed in cocoa farming, girls are often less likely to attend school.

But life is changing for the farmers who are members of Kuapa Kokoo. With the higher sale price of their cocoa, Kuapa members have built clean wells, schools, and health clinics in their communities. They hold training sessions for farmers on improving cocoa quality and empower women to take equal part in all of the cooperative’s activities.

The Kuapa members are looking toward the future of their communities and want to provide opportunities for generations to come. One such opportunity, Kuapa Kids Camp, engages students in such educational, social, and cultural initiatives as computer training, health classes, and gender education. Here, children have the opportunity to learn, play, and dream. Josephine, 12, dreams of one day becoming the general manager of Kuapa Kokoo, helping farmers continue to extend their network and "take even better care of their families." Empowered by education, 13-year-old Jocelyn is also thinking of her community. She wants to become a bank manager. That way, she says, she can "protect people from thieves who want to steal the money people work so hard to earn by raising cocoa." At 14, Ruth can also see the improvements in her community during her household chores. Getting water once meant an hour-long trek; now she fetches her family’s daily supply of water from a pump Kuapa Kokoo built, only 10 minutes from her house. The time she saves can now be spent concentrating on school or studying science, her favorite subject.

A NEW KIND OF DEVELOPMENT
For more than 60 years, Lutheran World Relief has worked to respond to the needs of communities across the globe. Founded in 1945 as a relief agency that shipped material resources to war–torn Europe, LWR has continually evolved to creatively and effectively respond to emergencies, seek lasting solutions to poverty, and work for peace and justice.

Lutheran World Relief is now embarking on a development strategy that builds on the basic foundation of our develop development and advocacy work. Working alongside farmers is not a new concept for Lutheran World Relief. Neither is promoting the concept and principles of Fair Trade. By investing in this farmer–owned company, Lutheran World Relief is investing in a model of trade for which it has advocated since the launch of its coffee project in 1997.

Why did Lutheran World Relief, a nonprofit organization with more than 60 years of experience in relief and development, decide to invest in a for–profit company? In short, because it’s good for the farmers, good for the Fair Trade movement, and good for Lutherans. Divine Chocolate’s innovative structure means that farmers get more of the profit. By increasing the demand for, and prominence of, Fair Trade chocolate in the United States, the movement continues to grow. And LWR’s involvement raises the profile of Lutherans’ longstanding commitment to justice through Fair Trade and moves us forward in working toward our vision of justice, dignity, and peace.

"For 10 years, Lutherans have been putting faith into action by purchasing and promoting Fair Trade," said Lisa Baumgartner Bonds, vice president for external relations at Lutheran World Relief and LWR’s representative on Divine Chocolate’s board of directors. "By stepping up and helping to make Divine Chocolate a reality, Lutherans are bringing the gospel of love and equality into the marketplace," she said.

SWEET JUSTICE
What does the future hold for this forward-thinking chocolate company? It all depends on the consumers. While Kuapa Kokoo has been able to make great strides thanks to Fair Trade, there is much more to do. Because of the current demand, only 2 percent of the cocoa beans produced by the farmers are sold at Fair Trade prices; the rest must be sold on the volatile world commodities market.

Increased consumer demand for Fair Trade will empower small–scale farmer cooperatives like Kuapa Kokoo to sell more of their cocoa at Fair Trade prices. "We all have to go shopping. Fair Trade is just shopping with respect," said Kwabena Ohemeng–Tinyase, managing director of Kuapa Kokoo.

So the next time the sweet tooth strikes, cure the craving with a bite of Divine Chocolate–and make life a little sweeter for someone halfway around the world.

Kattie Somerfeld is Fair Trade projects coordinator at Lutheran World Relief. For more information about the LWR Chocolate Project and Divine Chocolate, see www.lwr.org/chocolate

ACT BOLDLY! EAT BOLDLY!
Consider your new role as part owner of Divine Chocolate. Here’s how you can help make Divine Chocolate a success:

• Ordering is quick and easy at www.lwr.org/chocolate

• Sell Divine Chocolate at your church — give people in your congregation the opportunity to support Divine and enjoy the sweet taste of justice!

• Serve Divine Chocolate instead of the usual snacks for one coffee hour. Break up bars into small pieces or use Divine Chocolate to make heavenly treats with a heart — visit www.lwr.org/chocolate for recipes that are simply Divine

• Teach young people about justice and Fair Trade by using the Divine Chocolate as a fundraiser — visit www.lwr.org/chocolate to download a free fundraising kit.

• Make Fair Trade a topic for discussion during youth and adult forums.

• Include Divine Chocolate in welcome baskets for new members, appreciation gifts for faithful volunteers, and as Christmas gifts.

• Bring Divine Chocolate to your grocery store — visit www.lwr.org/chocolate to learn how!

FAST FACTS!
• 90 percent of the world’s cocoa is grown on small family farms of 12 acres or less.

• Lack of access to credit and poor market conditions often force small cocoa growers to sell to middlemen, receiving a fraction of their harvest’s value.

• The U.S. chocolate industry generated $13.7 billion in retail sales in 2000.

• Americans consumed 3.3 billion pounds of chocolate in 2000.