"Hundreds of thousands of children labour in the West Coast of Africa to produce cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. Specifically, over 40% of the global supply originates in the Ivory Coast, where the US Department of State reports that over 109,000 children work under the worst forms of child labour. Of these 10,000 are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. Children working in cocoa production labour long hours and [...]
Note: This has been a hard post to both write and publish. While in Dominican Republic over the summer working with Canadian volunteers, eyeing up outfits on Pinterest, or asking friends where they bought the adorable ensemble they happen to be wearing, Forever 21 seems to always be the answer. It’s hard to respond when that is what I hear—I don’t bust out a ‘don’t shop there’ speech that may [...]
Image found on Pinterest I’ve heard January be referred to as Human Trafficking Awareness month. As the beginning of research generally starts, I opened up Google and typed in ‘Human Trafficking Awareness Month.’ Upon skimming through the top few headlines one link in particular caught my eye. Posted by the White House, it was a letter that President Obama wrote announcing January 2014 to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking [...]
Spring Fever. I have it. I don't know if it is highly contagious, if I caught it from someone-- but I have a firm belief I can almost 100% back up with proof that it is brought on by the weather. This fever will only break once temperatures warm up outside. Symptoms can be treated by sitting by windows so you can be all 'cat-like' and bathe in the sun [...]
How often do you think to yourself "I should make a documentary? For me, it's not too often. For my wonderful husband, it's probably at least once to twice a day. As you can tell from the premise of my blog to the topics I've been discussing lately, being an ethical consumer and using your purchasing power to make a difference in the world has been on my mind a [...]
"Hundreds of thousands of children labour in the West Coast of Africa to produce cocoa, the main ingredient in chocolate. Specifically, over 40% of the global supply originates in the Ivory Coast, where the US Department of State reports that over 109,000 children work under the worst forms of child labour. Of these 10,000 are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. Children working in cocoa production labour long hours and [...]
Freedom Sunday. A day where the faith community as a whole comes together in their place of worship and devotes their time to learn what it means to end slavery. This is incredible. As a Christian I truly believe that we, as the church, should be leading the movement to end slavery in our lifetime. The night before Freedom Sunday my wonderful husband and I were hanging out with some [...]
I was recently on vacation with my family in Hawaii. When I say family I mean my husband, mom, dad and two older brothers. The last "family vacation" we took was when I was 16 years old to Disney World. Needless to say, it was an interesting time to see how our personalities, interests and lifestyles meshed and, at times, didn't mesh. I'm sure we can all agree that people [...]