Today’s our final day in Amsterdam! I began my day by walking to a bagel shop nearby with a few other people in our group. I got a mocha and a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel. It was a great way to start our morning, and we had another beautiful day! After our breakfast, we made our way back to the generator to attend a presentation by Tony’s Chocolonely’s Open Chain Lead, Joke Aerts. She presented the company, Tony’s Chocolonely, and their current and future plans. This presentation was really interesting to listen to, I was inspired by her drive and passion for the company’s mission. She described the business as being an impact company that happens to sell chocolate, with their motto being, “Crazy about chocolate, serious about people”. Their mission involves reforming the cocoa production industry, which currently has many issues with child labor, deforestation, and poverty.
It was really interesting to hear about these devastating impacts as I was unaware of a majority of what happens behind-the-scenes of these chocolate companies. The average cocoa farmer in Côte d’Ivoire makes about 70 eurocent per day, which is about half of what is considered to be the poverty line. This isn’t a livable income, and part of Tony’s mission is to ensure that these cocoa farmers are being paid more since this low income often results in child labor. Additionally, Tony’s mission includes stopping illegal deforestation and producing cocoa through more sustainable and environmentally-conscious means. There are many positive impacts that can be made through Tony’s open chain system, which will hold these chocolate brands accountable to work towards making these changes to better the cocoa industry. Part of this mission includes working to create traceability and transparency within the cocoa industry, which involves ensuring that the sources of the cocoa for these companies is coming from trustworthy sources. It was really interesting to hear about the ethical standards and practices of this company, and how they’re working to expand their values by convincing other companies to join their mission.
After this presentation, we took a trip to the Tony’s Chocolonely superstore! They had such a wide variety of chocolate bars, it was difficult to choose just a few! I ended up buying a white chocolate bar with raspberries, and a dark chocolate bar with almonds. After our trip to the store, we had dinner at a delicious Indonesian restaurant. It was definitely a great choice for our last group dinner! I can’t believe that it’s already been two weeks. I’ve had the best time with the best people, and I’m sad that it’s coming to an end but I’m looking forward to future adventures!
Doei!