i just heard one of THE coolest stories

i have EVER heard. it was on bbc world news

it started off like ALL stories start off. hanging out with pygmies in cameroon (i swear i said to myself, if i hear ONE MORE pygmy from cameroon story i am going to SCREAM). it was all well and good. the opening was cool enough; the ritual where the tribe brought a brand new baby into the forest and dabbed a bit of mud on her. they then told her that THIS WAS HER FOREST (c'mon now that's cool). yeah yeah yeah, another cameroonian pygmy ritual in the forest story i thought. the commentator said a few more things and i was only half paying attention.

THEN HE SAID:

a british company, helveta (i think that's the company. there was no link in the bbc article so i looked it up.*) was providing hand held gps devices to the baka so they could track where their trees are, where they get their fish and where they get their plants for food and medicines. the handheld just has pictures of trees and fish and the like. when the baka come across one of their trees, they push the picture of a tree button. then they go back to their village and the data gets downloaded and sent to london. london translates the data and sends it back to the baka (their "data center" is run off of a car battery). the baka have PROOF of where their trees and food are! so if a logging company comes in and destroys the baka's land WITHOUT their permission THEY HAVE PROOF! the loggers can be held accountable!!! this is a GIANT first step! it's AMAZING!

GPS helps pygmies defend forest

By Fergal Keane BBC News, Cameroon

Late in the night we hear a low howling across the forest. It builds to a crescendo until I am certain that what I am hearing is the sound of murder.
The contrast is extraordinary. Through a gap in the canopy I can see a sky full of stars.
The rest of the village is asleep. There is peace - except for the blood chilling screams.
"My God, what is that?" I ask.
"He's looking for a woman," replies Dr Jerome Lewis.
Dr Lewis is a British anthropologist from University College London who has devoted much of the last 20 years studying the pygmy groups who live in the forests of the Congo basin.
"Who's looking for a woman?" I say to him. ...........

*what's even more amazing is; it sort of looks like helveta has something to do with the logging industry