Čokoládové děti, o.p.s.

Chocolate Children

It’s not easy being different. In fact, it can be pretty difficult. Imagine a boy, ten years old, who was born in the Czech Republic and talks just like everybody else around him, exactly the same, he has the same hobbies, the same things delight and upset him, the same things make him laugh… he just looks different. His skin isn’t white, but instead a beautiful velvety chocolate colour. His family roots, maybe even quite remote, reach back to black Africa. But to his misfortune, he doesn’t have a functional family and lives in a children’s home. And sometimes he thinks: “When I grow up and leave this place… what will it be like?”

One is inclined to holler jovially: “No worries, everything’s fine. What should it be like? Life, what else?” But we all know this need not be the case. And so a few Afro-Czechs – let’s use this term for people whose parents, grandparents or even earlier ancestors came from Africa – nevertheless absolutely genuine Czechs – got together and said to themselves – why not come up with something for these chocolate children? An activity that would help them fit into the majority, which would equip them with skills and prepare them for adult life, seeing as their mother and father can’t or won’t do it.

No, no favouritism or positive discrimination, no excuses or evasions – just a chance. A chance to try something new. A chance to invite their white friends to a place they would probably never go otherwise. A chance to participate in organising events where these little “chocolates” can show their abilities. A chance to learn something about the culture and life of the country from which their ancestors came, and be able to boast about it, because after all blood isn’t water. A chance to make disparity an asset. A chance to be proud of who they are. In short, a chance to experience more than they would if nobody had come up with the “Chocolate Children” initiative.