Recently, on May 10, two important people came to our sixth grade and introduced themselves as Bill Guyton, President of the World Cocoa Foundation, and Susan Smith, Vice-President of the National Confection Association. They were there defending their organizations and the companies they represent, such as Hershey, Mars and Nestle. We the students have been questioning the cocoa business for months now.

They began with a lecture on what cocoa is and where it grows. They then explained that the situation is different in the Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) now, because the Ivory Coast is in the middle of a civil war. Is the situation different from the situation beforehand? Does the civil war change the slavery issue? Nobody knows.

According to Mr. Guyton, only three years ago they learned about the child labor used to harvest coca beans. As stated by Mr. Guyton, they have tried to stop it numerous times, but failed. Therefore, instead, they have formed partnerships with many labor unions, done surveys, and sent people out to educate the children, farmers, and owners. They understand, however, that many families need the money from cocoa harvesting and that 90 percent of all cocoa grown on farms in West Africa is grown responsibly and in small farms. Following that, we were presented with little bars of chocolate from Venezuela. The students looked at them greedily, but later some told me that they were uncomfortable accepting the chocolate.

The sixth grade had several questions, but I'll name only a few:

Question: Is MM/Mars ignoring the slave labor? Answer: MM/Mars is not causing slave labor. All companies buy from the Ivory Coast, which is where most of our cocoa is farmed. Mars also buys from Ecuador and Indonesia. Cocoa is a major source of income for the West Africans.

Question: How much do cocoa farmers make? Answer: It depends on how close they are to the harbor. If they are in a remote, desolate place, they have to pay for shipment, among other things, but the coastal farmers don't have to so they make more. We do know that cocoa farmers make three times more than other farmers do. On average the farmers are paid $2.00 a week, and somewhere between $168 and $200 a year. The productive farmers are paid more, of course.

Question: Do you think your efforts are not in vain in the long run? Answers: Yes, I believe our companies are doing the right thing.

In the end, were the sixth graders convinced? I got mixed answers.

Says Cassie Berman, "They didn't seem sure of themselves. They sounded really nervous."

Arian Adams, another sixth grader, put in her opinion as well. "When they gave us chocolate at the end, it seemed like they were bribing us."

All in all, it's important to be exposed to the other side of the story