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Agitu Gudeta Saves the Goats (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  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
• 10:56
  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,