Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Marina Sante and I'm Roger Bassic. Spotlight uses
a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
matter where in the world they live. A Gutu Guidetta is at a market
in Frassolano. This is a town in northern Italy. All around her,
men and women shop for produce. Some stop at her shop. It is
called La capra Philiche. This means the happy goat. Goats are small horned
animals that resemble sheep. The happy goat sells cheese made from goat's milk,
but these are not normal goats. They are a rare kind of goat called
machino goats. The goats are native to the area around Fraslano. For many
years, the population of machino goats became fewer and fewer. They almost died
off, but Tghito has helped save the goats and she is the first person
to open a goat cheese shop in the area in many years. Agitu uses
traditional methods to raise her goats, but she is far from the typical traditional
person living in Frasolungo. The town is remote. It is far up in
the mountains. The same people group has lived there for hundreds of years.
They are almost all white. A Gito, on the other hand, is
black. She is not even Italian. She is a refugee from Ethiopia,
but over the years she has become part of the community. At first the
community might have disliked. Instead, she has given the people of Rasolango something
they badly needed, hope. Today's spotlight is on a Gitu gu Data.
A Gitu was originally from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. In
her early life, she did not plan to live in Italy, but she
did study there. Iguito's family were farmers and shepherds. She hoped her education
would help them, so she traveled to the University of Trento, This is
a city near Frassolongo. There she studied sociology, the science of human behavior.
She hoped to use her degree to work for farmers' rights, and she
wanted to teach people about sustainable farming. But a Gito's dream was not to
be. In Ethiopia, the political situation is very difficult. The government does
not permit many freedoms. Many kinds of human rights work are illegal. The
government punishes people who disagree with it. Igh Too tried to begin her work
in Ethiopia, but her ideas clashed with the government's policies. The government officials
began to see her as a danger. She began to protest some of their
policies. In twenty nineteen, age Too spoke to the German news organization deuts
Schevella about these times. Some of us had fought back against a system called
land grabbing. That is, when the government seizes private farm land, they
give it to multinational investors and companies. Soldiers just show up on private property.
They say that an investor wants your land, so you have to leave
now. We organized peaceful protests against this, but the army often came.
They fired at the demonstrators. A lot of people were arrested, some were
tortured. Agitu led many of these protests. She was an important leader for
farmers' rights, but in twenty ten, the government issued an arrest warrant for
her. They wanted to put her in prison for leading the protests. Agitu
saw how others had been hurt in prison, some had even been killed.
She feared for her life, so she fled the country. She found political
shelter in Italy. Unless things changed, she would never return to Ethiopia.
Aguitu's life in Italy was not easy. At first, she had no job.
She had no real idea what to do. She ended up working at
a coffee shop. It was very different to the life she had trained for.
One day, Agitu visited the Mochene Valley. It is a remote community
in the Alps, the largest mountain range in Europe. It was also home
of the Mocheno goat. For hundreds of years, the Mochene people depended on
the Mocheno goat. It gave them food and clothing. But in recent years,
people began to leave the Mochene Valley. They left for cities or to
get work in larger factories. They no longer had the time to take care
of the goats. The community got smaller and the Mocheno goats began to die
out. By two thousand and five, there were only seven Mocheno goats left.
Around that same time, there were only one thousand people living in the
valley. A Gitu was struck by the valley's beauty, but she also fell
in love with them Mchino goats. She decided to start raising them. She
took on a small number of the goats and she began to feed them grass
on land where nobody lived. She spoke to Deutschevella about why she made this
decision. My ancestors were wandering shepherds. It is part of my family tradition.
I have worked on different projects that involved earth friendly farming. Most of
these projects dealt with wandering shepherds. During this time, I started a very
special relationship with the goats. I feel very strongly about them. You get
to know their character, you get to know the quality of their milk.
That creates a strong connection. At first, Agitu's work with the goats was
a side project, but soon her herd of goats began to have more kids.
She became friends with the people who lived there, and she began to
think of the Mocheny Valley as home. She used ways from her tradition to
raise the goats, but she also learned about the Mocheny tradition. She began
to make cheese like the people there used to make. Her. Cheese began
to win awards. People started being interested in the valley again. They came
for the cheese. They came to learn about a Gitu and her goats.
As Agito's business grew, she became a community leader. She spoke about using
deserted land for farming. She made plans to build a school. It would
be a place where people could come and learn about earth friendly farming. She
wanted to help other people bring back their own traditions, and she wanted more
people to come to the community. She loved. Her work became part of
the town's recovery plans. Sadly, Agitu's plans were cut short. In December
of twenty twenty, an ex employee entered her home. They argued about money.
By the end of the argument, a Gitu was dead. She was
only forty two years old. Aguitu's murder shocked the world, but her dream
did not die. In the weeks following her death, the community worked hard
to save her farm. They raised money to help start the school. People
from all over the world gave money to the cause. There is even an
art society in Agitu's name. Agitu's death was a tragedy, but her time
in the Mocheni Valley changed people's lives. She brought light to a place without
much hope, and she helped people understand that their home was special. Stefano
Malta is the head of the Association for the Preservation of the Muchini Goat.
He works to bring back goats like a gutu did. He knew her well.
In twenty twenty one, he spoke to the British Broadcasting Cooperation about her
lasting gift to the community. We used to joke about her wilfulness, but
it was her wilfulness that changed our community. This is a valley where most
young people leave to find jobs in cities. It took a foreign woman to
show us what can be done right here. A gee too rescued a special
breed of goats. She gave new life to the traditional craft of cheesemaking a
gito goo. Data created hope for both refugees and the people belove the Mocheni
Valley. Is there a tradition near you worth saving? What is it?
How have refugees found ways to help your community? You can leave a comment
on our website. You can also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com slash
Spotslight Radio. The writer of this program was Dan Chrisman. The producer was
Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United
States. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You
can listen to this program again and read it on the internet at www dot
Spotlight English dot com. This program is called a geetoo. Good Data Saves
the Goats. You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or
Apple device through our free official Spotslight in Clad app. We hope you can
join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,