WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Wade
and I'm Ryan Gertzma. Spotlight uses a

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

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where in the world they live.
A man climbs on the rocky side of

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a mountain. He holds on to
a thin rope. He has covered his

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head and shoulders with a cloth.
The man raises a long stick with a

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sharp point. He is a hunter, but he is not hunting an animal.

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The man on the mountain side is
hunting honey. This sweet food is

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made by flying insects called bees.
The bees fly all around the man.

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If they sting him, it would
be very painful. If he falls down

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the mountain, he will most likely
die. But if he succeeds, he

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will bring valuable honey home. The
honey hunter is taking a big risk.

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Today's Spotlight is on honey hunters.
If you walk through an area with many

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plants, you may see and hear
bees. These yellow and black insects fly

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from flower to flower. They are
collecting a liquid called nectar. The bees

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take the nectar back to their home, called a bee hive. Bees make

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their hives out of wax. The
wax hive hangs down from a tree or

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high rock and thousands of bees sit
on it. All these bees were borne

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in the hive. They live and
eat there. The wax of the hive

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has many holes in it. The
bees put the nectar in these holes.

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Soon the water evaporates from the nectar, leaving a thick liquid. This liquid

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is light brown or yellow in color. It tastes very sweet. It is

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honey. Bees make honey to eat
as food, but many other animals like

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to eat honey too, including people. People have used honey as food and

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medicine for thousands of years. It
is a special food. In many cultures.

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People eat honey to help with sickness, such as a cough or throat

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pain. In many cultures, people
also put honey on their skin. It

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keeps skin soft. Honey breaks down
bad bacteria and helps to heal wounds.

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But to use honey, people must
first collect it. Some people take care

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of a bee hive, but in
some places people collect honey from wild bees.

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This is common in many parts of
the world, especially South Asia.

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Honey hunting is a local tradition in
southern India, but this traditional custom is

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not easy. The bees in southern
India are large. They can grow up

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to the size of the smallest adult
human finger, and these giant honey bees

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build their hives on the sides of
mountains. It takes many years for a

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honey hunter to learn to collect honey
from these hives. From a young age,

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the honey hunter learns everything about bees. He practices climbing hundreds of meters

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above the ground. Then the honey
season arrives. The honey hunter prepares for

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many days. He does not eat
meat. He does not sleep with his

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wife. He stays by himself.
The honey hunter must be calm and full

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of courage. The day of the
honey hunt arrives early in the morning.

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The villagers say prayers, and then
the honey hunter goes to the edge of

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the mountain. He climbs down with
a rope made from small tree branches.

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He lights some dry branches on fire. The smoke makes the bees leave the

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hive. They fly around the honey
hunter. He reaches a long sharp stick

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over to the hive. He gently
cuts off pieces of the wax filled with

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honey. He takes them back to
the village in a container made of bamboo.

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When the honey hunter returns. The
village celebrates the honey is important to

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them for many reasons. Simone g
works for the organization Slow Food International.

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She writes about the importance of honey. Tribes have been honey hunting in this

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way for generations. Rock paintings in
the area show honey hunters more than two

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thousand years ago. Honey was once
a valuable resource in the trading system between

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tribes. It still is an important
part of their diet, cooking, and

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medicine. The hunter takes some honey, but he always leaves some of the

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hive on the mountain side. He
does not take the part of the hive

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with the baby bees in it.
He does not want to destroy the home

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of the bees. There are also
areas of the mountain and forest that are

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considered holy. These places are important
for the religion of the tribe. The

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hunters are careful not to take honey
from the holy places, but this traditional

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system may not be enough to protect
the bees in the future. The forests

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where the tribes live are changing.
People are planting huge tea farms throughout the

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area. They are spraying chemicals and
cutting down trees. This is not good

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for the plants and animals in the
forest. It can kill the bees and

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destroy their hives. It is also
dangerous for the people who live there.

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The Keystone Foundation is a local organization
in southern India. It has worked with

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the honey hunters for fifteen years.
They aim to protect the environment and local

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culture. Robert Leo works for the
Keystone Foundation. He tells the organization Slow

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Food International. In the past few
years, we have seen many people coming

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back to forest honey gathering, particularly
young people. One of the reasons is

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that it is now possible to make
enough money this way. Many young people

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in South India leave the tribal areas
they can make more money working in the

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city. But for the tribe to
continue and grow, they must have young

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people. So the honey hunters have
made a few changes. They found ways

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for young people to make money in
the village. The tribe still uses traditional

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tools and skills to harvest honey,
but they have a new production center here.

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They clean the honey, then they
put it in bottles. This way

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the tribe can sell their honey for
a higher price. The Keystone Foundation also

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helped set up some hives for people
to keep. People can harvest honey from

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these hives at any time of year. Then the honey hunters can make money

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even when it is not the season
for wild honey, they can continue their

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traditions. This provides a future for
the honey hunters and it protects the creatures

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that make the valuable honey, the
giant honey bees. The writer and producer

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of this program was Rena dam.
The voices you heard were from 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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Radio English dot net. This program
is called Honey Hunters. You can also

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leave your comments on our website or
you can email us at radio at Radio

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English dot net. And you can
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Radio. We hope you can join
us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,