Part IV lobster: product of Nicaragua

     Ever since I can remember, my dad has been diving for lobsters to earn money. I know it is hard for him because they don't have the righ equipment. There are no other jobs here to do so he is forced to go diving. Everyday I see the effects that diving has on the workers, most of them have the bends. For some, they can't walk, others they get wounds which get infected because they don't have the medical care that they need. For others, if it gets really bad it starts to affect their mind. My dad had a case of the bends not too long ago, he was unable to walk for a while. It was tough seeing him go through that, so I wanted Togo find out more about it and I went to ask my father what it was that made him so sick. When asking him how he got the bends he explained to me that "the bubbles in soda give our soft drink bite, but in diving, they can accumulate around the joint sand in the spinal cord-these types of injuries are known as decompression sickness and are commonly referred to as 'the bends'"(Timmerman 173). From that day forward, I feared the bends and prayed that my father never had to go through that again.
     One day, I overheard two divers talking about how all of the bends could be prevented if they had the right gear and training. I had always been used to the divers wearing regular clothes to go diving and hearing how they come up too fast . I don't see why the divers don't have the right equipment they need to go diving. I see all these men suffering and dying because of diving. If they had the proper training to dive all this could be prevented.

Part III banana: product of Costa Rica

     There has always been an increase in demand for bananas, but no increase in pay for the people who put in the hard work to make the bananas. For some they were young and needed all the money they could get "these guys grow up with machetes in their hands. At 27, Alfonso is 14 years-that's half of his young life-into his career. At 13, he asked the government for a special permit to work. His dad worked on a banana farm but had a 'problem' and couldn't work, so Alfonso dropped out of school to help support his family with machete"(Timmerman 135). Even though they have been needing the money and doing this for most of their lives they still do not get paid the amount they deserve to get paid.
      Americans alone has a high demand for bananas," the average American eats 27 pounds of bananas each year..."(Timmerman 132). Considering this it would make sense to pay the people more who put in the hard labor to make the bananas, right? When thinking about all the other roles of course they're going to get paid, but the ones that actually grow the product get the short end of the stick. "The supermarket gets 41 percent, the importer gets 19 percent, the exporter gets 28 percent, the farm owners get 10.5 percent, and the banana worker gets 1.5 percent"(Timmerman 151). The same men that are doing their dangerous job, the same men that are coming into work in hopes that their children don't end up having to labor like them, are the same men that could earn more and provide a better future for their families. People like the the transporters and retailers are making the money now (Timmerman 151). It is possible for the producers to get more money if the transporters and retailers wages were split equally between all three of them. The producers should earn the same as the rest of the people that put work into making and selling the bananas because they do just as much work as everyone else.

                                                     

Part II chocolate:product of west Africa

    From the tender age of 14 I have been working for Master Jones on the Ivory coast. My family needed the money so they sent me and my 9 brothers and sisters away to work. Life with Master isn't that bad, it is better than the other girls that are working here. Master says I am very beautiful so I get to live in one of the rooms in his house. The other girls have to live in the houses covered in mud. I've always been favored by Master because I don't have to do as much house work as the others which makes them jealous. I feel like in a way I am doing more work than the other girls though. Every day Master touches me in places I don't want to be touched. Then every other day he sexually molests me.

     This has been going on for a while now, It started when I first came to work for him. I was a shy kid and kept to myself, he came up to me and asked me if I wanted to play a game. He took me to a private room and from that day on my life has changed. I not even my own person,"[I am] possessed-not by ghosts or demons, but by something just as scary: another human being"(Timmerman 63). I am 19 now and I refuse to be treated like this. 

   

      It has been a little bit over two weeks since I told Master that I did not want to be touched anymore. He did not take that too well, he beat me then sent me to work for his brother. This is where I met Solomon. He came over to my house every other day to feed me when he got food. Considering the fact that they barely fed us and solo still shared his food with me was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. After a month of being there and having to do hard and excruciating work, some pale white men came to visit and I overheard them talking about taking Solo with him. I decided then that I should escape as soon as possible. I waited until that night while everyone was sleep, grabbed my belongings and left. I walked for about a mile or two before I was caught and forced to return back. I just guess it was never meant for me to leave this lifestyle.

Part I coffee: product of Colombia

     Coffee is a common drink in America but to some in Colombia, it's more than just a common drink. It's their way of life. An author by the name of Kelsey Timmerman discovers that as he travels to find out where his food is made. He tells about how he not only learns but experiences what heights the farmers are willing to go to make what we drink, "I've never been so terrified by a 'slight incline.' It's not so much that I'm afraid of heights as it is I'm afraid of falling down a mountainside to my death like a rag doll"(Timmerman 21). Timmerman also explains that the farmers  work everyday in the valleys covered in fields of coffee.  With the life that they do have some still want to improve it.
      A Colombian woman by the name of Flor grows coffee but has to pay 11 cents back to the company she sells for. She does all this and still receives little to no help, "technicians don't help us, but our neighbors do"(Timmerman 32). Farmers like Felipe benefit because they received help from the same company that Flor sells to. She hopes that the company will help her; she explains that she wants to have an improved house and improved standard of life (Timmerman 37).  Felipe on the other hand, does have some privileges that some others don't have. "A Dell computer sat in the corner on a desk next to a Samsung LCD monitor. Two HD printer boxes were stacked in the opposite corner..."(Timmerman 24). Felipe has this right in his house, while flor and her family have to travel a great distance to get internet. Not only does he do better than people like flor, he gets paid more than his neighbors. Even though he gets paid more, all of them could be getting paid much more "Today, in 2012, they're lucky to keep 10 percent. Consumers are paying more for coffee; producers are getting paid less..."(Timmerman 25). These farmers are doing their part and making the coffee, going to great heights literally and they still aren't getting paid what they deserve. "Flor is referring to the new free trade agreement with the United States. The first tariff-free products shipped to the United States were crates of roses from Colombia, while the United States sent a Harley-Davidson as its first product to Colombia. Roses in exchange for a motorcycle. Nature for a machine. A commodity for a high-tech, finished product"(Timmerman 37). All of this hardwork in return for something that they can't even use. The people of Colombia are very hardworking people who do what they have to in order to survive. It's in their culture to stick together and make sure all of those in their community is taken care of. They do all they can to strive towards a better life.