11/20/2023

Brazil Reckons with Dark Side of Açaí

It is rampant, dangerous child labor

Hiding in a bedroom, the boy quietly wrung his hands. Strangers were at the door. He worried they had come to take him back to the life he had just escaped — out in the açaí orchards, where he had been made to risk his life gathering fruit from trees as high as 60 feet.

"It's all right," said Ana Maria Rodrigues, a municipal social worker. "You're safe."

Izaque Pimentel Rocha, 12, stepped nervously out. He shifted his weight. His arms and legs bore scars — reminders of the dangers he endured as an invisible worker in the $1.6 billion açaí industry.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.