Cedric
Cedric (15)
As a ten-year-old, I worked on my uncle’s plantation. When I cut myself with the machete I treated the wound myself.

At those moments I missed my parents. I didn’t speak to them once in the four years I worked on the cocoa plantation.
Cedric
The only reason why my parents let me go is because they’re poor. They thought I’d have a better life in the Ivory Coast.
Cedric
Now I’m training to be a mechanic. I work hard. I want to earn money as soon as possible because I want my sister to go to school – and someone has to pay.

Cedric (15)
13 Oct - 22 Nov 2017
Beurs van Berlage
Amsterdam
Who are the children who harvest the cocoa for our chocolate in West Africa? What was their life like? What dreams about the future do they cherish? Fifteen of them tell their stories in this exhibition.

For every ticket of the exhibition or copy of the book sold, a contribution will be made to GRADE-FRB’s rehabilitation shelter for former child labourers.
Bitter Chocolate Stories is a Paradox production in collaboration with: Joana Choumali (photography), Marijn Heemskerk (texts), GRADE-FRB and Tony’s Chocolonely. Design: Kummer & Herrman.