He is just 24 years old and has a contagious energy, despite living in a land that certainly has its share of problems. His name is David, this boy who has not given up on a destiny that was perhaps already written and has drastically overturned it: he has become president of a youth association that produces chocolate. And he does not produce it in just any place, but in the canton of Muisne, in Ecuador.
The Canton of Muisne (Ecuador)
The canton of Muisne is located in the province of Esmeraldas , in northwest Ecuador. It is the region that AMU has chosen for Sunrise+ , a program to support professional training and natural resources conservation. It has a very high rate of poverty, accompanied by an equally high rate of violence practiced by the numerous mafia gangs that control the territory. Children, in particular, are the most exposed, the most vulnerable, the most defenseless in the face of criminal organizations that attempt to recruit them into their ranks.
For this reason, stories like David’s are even more precious. His redemption comes through chocolate and the support of Sunrise+ .
Muyuchappie, or David’s Chocolate
David and the other boys, members of the association, produce “muyuchappie” , an entirely artisanal chocolate, using only Ecuadorian cocoa. 
He himself tells how he realized his dream: “I had this desire, I dreamed, like all young people. Why not create a chocolate with the cocoa plants that we grow here? I worked for two years in one of these plantations and I understood that I wanted to give my contribution to the community . And this contribution could be precisely chocolate”.
David sought the collaboration of other guys and all together they worked so that his project could take its first steps. Four years have passed since then and it can be said that something really beautiful has happened.
The beginning with a small bowl
The beginnings were simply this: in a kitchen, crushing cocoa beans (the seeds) in a bowl .
In fact, after being collected, the seeds are first fermented and then dried. They are then toasted and during this process the external part of the bean is separated from the internal part (the cocoa nib). The latter is then crushed or ground to obtain a “cocoa mass”, which is the basis for producing chocolate.
After this first bowl, David and his friends made huge strides.
Chocolate as a social project
“Ours is a social project – he explains – It’s not an individual action. We give work to other young people in our community, who would otherwise migrate elsewhere. And everyone likes making chocolate.”
David recently had the opportunity to represent his business in a prestigious competition in the city of Quito, where he competed with his chocolate. And he won! This result is not only a triumph for his association. It represents a redemption for his community and a boost for young entrepreneurs who are looking for their own path in the world of artisanal production . And then, it is certainly a revenge for the cocoa of the canton of Muisne!
