WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Marina
Sante and I'm Roger Bassic. Spotlight uses

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a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand no

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matter where in the world they live. A Gutu Guidetta is at a market

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in Frassolano. This is a town
in northern Italy. All around her,

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men and women shop for produce.
Some stop at her shop. It is

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called La capra Philiche. This means
the happy goat. Goats are small horned

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animals that resemble sheep. The happy
goat sells cheese made from goat's milk,

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but these are not normal goats.
They are a rare kind of goat called

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machino goats. The goats are native
to the area around Fraslano. For many

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years, the population of machino goats
became fewer and fewer. They almost died

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off, but Tghito has helped save
the goats and she is the first person

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to open a goat cheese shop in
the area in many years. Agitu uses

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traditional methods to raise her goats,
but she is far from the typical traditional

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person living in Frasolungo. The town
is remote. It is far up in

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the mountains. The same people group
has lived there for hundreds of years.

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They are almost all white. A
Gito, on the other hand, is

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black. She is not even Italian. She is a refugee from Ethiopia,

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but over the years she has become
part of the community. At first the

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community might have disliked. Instead,
she has given the people of Rasolango something

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they badly needed, hope. Today's
spotlight is on a Gitu gu Data.

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A Gitu was originally from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. In

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her early life, she did not
plan to live in Italy, but she

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did study there. Iguito's family were
farmers and shepherds. She hoped her education

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would help them, so she traveled
to the University of Trento, This is

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a city near Frassolongo. There she
studied sociology, the science of human behavior.

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She hoped to use her degree to
work for farmers' rights, and she

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wanted to teach people about sustainable farming. But a Gito's dream was not to

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be. In Ethiopia, the political
situation is very difficult. The government does

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not permit many freedoms. Many kinds
of human rights work are illegal. The

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government punishes people who disagree with it. Igh Too tried to begin her work

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in Ethiopia, but her ideas clashed
with the government's policies. The government officials

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began to see her as a danger. She began to protest some of their

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policies. In twenty nineteen, age
Too spoke to the German news organization deuts

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Schevella about these times. Some of
us had fought back against a system called

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land grabbing. That is, when
the government seizes private farm land, they

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give it to multinational investors and companies. Soldiers just show up on private property.

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They say that an investor wants your
land, so you have to leave

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now. We organized peaceful protests against
this, but the army often came.

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They fired at the demonstrators. A
lot of people were arrested, some were

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tortured. Agitu led many of these
protests. She was an important leader for

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farmers' rights, but in twenty ten, the government issued an arrest warrant for

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her. They wanted to put her
in prison for leading the protests. Agitu

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saw how others had been hurt in
prison, some had even been killed.

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She feared for her life, so
she fled the country. She found political

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shelter in Italy. Unless things changed, she would never return to Ethiopia.

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Aguitu's life in Italy was not easy. At first, she had no job.

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She had no real idea what to
do. She ended up working at

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a coffee shop. It was very
different to the life she had trained for.

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One day, Agitu visited the Mochene
Valley. It is a remote community

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in the Alps, the largest mountain
range in Europe. It was also home

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of the Mocheno goat. For hundreds
of years, the Mochene people depended on

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the Mocheno goat. It gave them
food and clothing. But in recent years,

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people began to leave the Mochene Valley. They left for cities or to

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get work in larger factories. They
no longer had the time to take care

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of the goats. The community got
smaller and the Mocheno goats began to die

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out. By two thousand and five, there were only seven Mocheno goats left.

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Around that same time, there were
only one thousand people living in the

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valley. A Gitu was struck by
the valley's beauty, but she also fell

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in love with them Mchino goats.
She decided to start raising them. She

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took on a small number of the
goats and she began to feed them grass

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on land where nobody lived. She
spoke to Deutschevella about why she made this

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decision. My ancestors were wandering shepherds. It is part of my family tradition.

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I have worked on different projects that
involved earth friendly farming. Most of

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these projects dealt with wandering shepherds.
During this time, I started a very

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special relationship with the goats. I
feel very strongly about them. You get

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to know their character, you get
to know the quality of their milk.

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That creates a strong connection. At
first, Agitu's work with the goats was

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a side project, but soon her
herd of goats began to have more kids.

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She became friends with the people who
lived there, and she began to

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think of the Mocheny Valley as home. She used ways from her tradition to

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raise the goats, but she also
learned about the Mocheny tradition. She began

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to make cheese like the people there
used to make. Her. Cheese began

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to win awards. People started being
interested in the valley again. They came

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for the cheese. They came to
learn about a Gitu and her goats.

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As Agito's business grew, she became
a community leader. She spoke about using

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deserted land for farming. She made
plans to build a school. It would

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be a place where people could come
and learn about earth friendly farming. She

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wanted to help other people bring back
their own traditions, and she wanted more

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people to come to the community.
She loved. Her work became part of

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the town's recovery plans. Sadly,
Agitu's plans were cut short. In December

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of twenty twenty, an ex employee
entered her home. They argued about money.

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By the end of the argument,
a Gitu was dead. She was

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only forty two years old. Aguitu's
murder shocked the world, but her dream

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did not die. In the weeks
following her death, the community worked hard

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to save her farm. They raised
money to help start the school. People

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from all over the world gave money
to the cause. There is even an

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art society in Agitu's name. Agitu's
death was a tragedy, but her time

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in the Mocheni Valley changed people's lives. She brought light to a place without

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much hope, and she helped people
understand that their home was special. Stefano

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Malta is the head of the Association
for the Preservation of the Muchini Goat.

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He works to bring back goats like
a gutu did. He knew her well.

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In twenty twenty one, he spoke
to the British Broadcasting Cooperation about her

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lasting gift to the community. We
used to joke about her wilfulness, but

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it was her wilfulness that changed our
community. This is a valley where most

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young people leave to find jobs in
cities. It took a foreign woman to

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show us what can be done right
here. A gee too rescued a special

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breed of goats. She gave new
life to the traditional craft of cheesemaking a

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gito goo. Data created hope for
both refugees and the people belove the Mocheni

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Valley. Is there a tradition near
you worth saving? What is it?

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How have refugees found ways to help
your community? You can leave a comment

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on our website. You can also
comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash

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Spotslight Radio. The writer of this
program was Dan Chrisman. The producer was

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Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard
were from the United Kingdom and the United

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States. All quotes were adapted for
this program and voiced by Spotlight. You

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can listen to this program again and
read it on the internet at www dot

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Spotlight English dot com. This program
is called a geetoo. Good Data Saves

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the Goats. You can also get
our programs delivered directly to your Android or

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Apple device through our free official Spotslight
in Clad app. We hope you can

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join us again for the next Spotlight
program. Goodbye,