Elyira.- “The Sugar Babies,” a film detailing the savage conditions of Haitian children and their families in the sugar fields of the Dominican Republic, will be shown today at Lorain County Community College, The Chronicle-Telegram reported.

Following the film will be discussion by its executive producer, Claudia Chiesi, former LCCC vice president of academic and student services. Chiesi, who served at LCCC from 1990 to 1995, said that making the film was a labor of love.

“I’ve always been interested in human rights,” said Chiesi, who served as president of Harford Community College in Maryland after her time at LCCC. “These children start planting at the age of 6 or 7 and start cutting cane at 12,” she said. “There’s a lot of maiming and cuts and injuries along the way.”

“The Sugar Babies” focuses on the moral price of sugar and those who profit form human trafficking and exploitation. Children earn the equivalent of 17 cents for planting half a mile to three-quarters of a mile of sugarcane plants, and adults earn the equivalent of $1.70 per ton of cane cut, collected, delivered and weighed, she said.

Chiesi worked with Miami filmmaker Amy Serrano, who wrote, filmed and directed the documentary that was shot in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, England and the United States.

To read the whole article go to The Chronicle-Telegram website.