Is globalization a good thing? Many people think not. Sometimes globalization causes problems. One of them is the increase of 'child labor'.

  In some countries, children work and don't go to school. Most work in agriculture (farming) for cash crops. A cash crop is a crop made to sell for money, not to eat or trade with. These crops are usually sold to a foreign country. Sometimes a foreign company owns the plantation the children work at. Some examples of cash crops are coffee, bananas, or shrimp. Coconut fiber, or 'natadecoco' is a famous cash crop sold to Japan.

 Some children work in factories that make things for foreign countries like Japan and the U.S.. Some people call these factories 'sweatshops' (like a hot gymnasium) because they are so hot and the work is so hard. A typical 'sweatshop' is a big clothing factory that makes things for big international companies like Nike or The Gap. Many of the soccer balls we use are made by children. Whether it be cash crops or factories, the children are working to sell things to developed countries. We are partly to blame for this problem.

  Some people in Japan and other countries know about this problem and buy things from fair trade companies like the people tree that don't use child labor and pay the workers better than the 'sweatshops'. Some people have demonstrations against free trade because 'free trade' means that more foreign companies can do things like use child labor in developing countries. Because of these demonstrations, some big companies like Nike changed and became more fair, but many haven't yet.

  Public opinion can change the world, but first people must be aware of the problems. We will march on Sunday 6/8 and we will ask people: Do you know about this problem? At the least, people will see our warmth and kindness and they will start to think. It is a start. Let's go!