Chocolate Country

Because of the growing popularity of organic chocolate, over 200 farmers, members of the Loma Guaconejo cooperative in the Dominican Republic have benefited from the fair trade sale of their cacao. These cacao farmers show first-hand the success the cooperative has had throughout the community.

Not only are the cacao farmers filled with a love for the land and a value for their group, the success of the cooperative has empowered the entire community—women are able to assume leadership positions, and families are able to provide their children with a better education. The community has a great sense of pride and respect for their product (some even drink chocolate as a "vitamin"!)

The overwhelming and infectious sense of joy apparent in this video makes you wonder...do we all need a little more chocolate in our lives?

Chocolate Country was created by Robin Blotnick of namshub films and submitted in the LinkTV ViewChange Online Film Contest.

Interested?

• 10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy: Scientists can tell us how to be happy. Really. Here are 10 ways, with the research to prove it.
• 10 Courageous Things You Can Do to Build Community: Building strong communities is critical, hard work. It’s also one of the most courageous and important things each of us can do every day.
• Creating Real Prosperity: Poor people are themselves creating the real job growth in much of the Global South through microcredit institutions and people's movements.

YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. aabdallah. (2010, September 29). Chocolate Country. Retrieved May 22, 2012, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://cms.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/cacao-cooperative. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License