♪ >> hello and welcome to global 3000 -- your weekly check on global developments that affect us all. today's program. cramped conditions -- how rising rents in hong kong are pricing many people out of the special village where war children get a chance to recover. how a green project is reviving a drought-stricken valley in chile.

when it comes to tackling poverty, china has no doubt achieved a lot. china is singlehandedly responsible for most of asia's poverty reduction over the past years. but poverty comes in many guises. the un has defined poverty as "a denial of choices, a violation of human dignity" and a "lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society." so it includes a lot more than an empty stomach. while mainland china is winning the battle when it comes to feeding its poor, hong kong is experiencing a social decline that's sent thousands into hiding behind the city's towering facades. we meet a social worker who helps those left behind in this fast paced metropolis. an average hallway in a typical apartment building in central hong kong. social worker sze lai shan is here to look in on some tenants. one can expect two or three people in a 50 square meter apartment. but here we find ten, or twenty. in this apartment -- twenty-six.

and there is no law against it. retirees, workers, men of all ages crammed into a tiny apartment, united in their poverty. with hong kong's high rents, it's the best they can afford. it's a maze of narrow corridors, with tiny sleeping spaces like cubbyholes to the right and left, stacked over two floors. each sleeping area is about two cubic meters. the air is stuffy. it's a tiny space for so many people. chan chi hung is 77. he was a tailor, but his savings are so small, he can't afford a better place. bedbugs keep him awake at night. and that's not all. >> we often argue over tv volume. some people have tvs at their beds, others don't. we also fight sometimes over who turn it is to use the sink and the toilet.

>> a sleeping space costs 130 euros a month. with so many tenants, the landlord rakes in 34-hundred euros a month on this one apartment. if he rented it out as one space, he'd be making less than a third of that. >> there's no regulation on rents in hong kong. that means landlords can charge as much as they want. i think the government should regulate the prices. and these people should get subsidies so that they can at least afford a small room. around 100,000 people in hong kong live in conditions like these --- hidden from streetview behind facades that give no sense of the cramped quarters inside. then there's the other hong kong -- filled with middle-class apartments. rents here are several thousand euros a month -- 50 euros a square meter. hong kong is one of the richest

cities in asia, with a per capita income that rivals industrialized western nations. hong kong living is good -- for those who can afford it. in the shadows of this bright city: the industrial district tai kok tsui. most of the factories are long gone -- outsourced to the mainland. the buildings have been converted to tenements. social worker sze lai shan comes here, too. she brings the tenants blankets and jackets -- things they otherwise couldn't afford. for 16 years, she's been working with the underdogs of rich hong kong. she helps them apply for apartments in the city's limited social housing. the old factory space is dirty. sanitary conditions are deplorable. one floor of this building has been split into 38 tenements with a level squeezed inbetween.

each tenant pays from 130 to 250 euros a month, netting the landlord a minimum of 5- thousand, and as much as 9- thousand euros each month. 56-year-old lee oi lin suffers from asthma. her staple meal: powdered soup. it's cheap and she doesn't need a stove. she used to work as a nurse, but an injury forced her to quit. now she makes due on her monthly 300 -euro welfare check. she's been here for 4 years. >> we all keep our door closed. we don't talk to each other. we also share one toilet, which i don't like. sometimes there are quarrels. it's a complicated place, especially for a single woman. there's always something for me to worry about. >> the next morning, social worker sze takes lee oi lin and others by bus into the city center -- to a protest. they're petitioning local politicians for cheaper rents and more affordable housing

projects. since 1997, hong kong has been part o of china. but public protests are still legal here, unlike on the mainland. the chinese government describes this apparent contradiction as "one country -- two systems." the group protests for 2 hours in front of parliament. some politicians stop at least briefly to watch. >> i hope i'll get into social housing soon. my current place is six floors up. with my asthma it's pretty tough getting up there. they all have the same dream: to get into subsidized housing. but apartments are scarce, and the wait is long -- up to 7 years. 30% of hong kong residents live in social housing. another one-hundred-fifty-

thousand people are on the waiting list. still, the government refuses to regulate the free housing market. >> we have set rent prices for social housing. otherwise, there's no regulation when it comes to the housing market. if we put a ban on these kinds of living arrangements, we'd have to give those people a place to live, which we don't have. so hong kong's cramped tenements remain legal. there are even agencies offering to convert landlords' spaces into cubicle apartments for them... so far, sze is the only one who has listened to the tenants. they trust this woman who has dedicated her life to helping them. >> even though the people are poor and uneducated they are concerned, and they understand that protests are important. they want things to change. and they aren't just doing it for themselves. they're also doing it for the

general community. they know that the only way to improve conditions, is by raising their own voices. >> sze lai shan has her hands full -- the divide between hong kong's rich and poor is growing by the day. most parents would refuse to hand their children over to strangers who want to take them to a far-away country for weeks and months on end. that's unless you live in a conflict zone and it might very well be the only chance to get the medical attention your sick child needs. the charity "peace village international" has been organizing medical treatment for child victims of war for almost five decades. for a short time these children can focus on getting well without the fear of more violence. we meet some brave patients.

these children come to germany from crisis zones around the world. around 150 children live here at peace village. the temperature is around freezing -- something lucas never experienced at home in angola. he's been living here for two months now. before that he spent a year and a half in a hospital in luckenwalde, in eastern germany. during his time there, he had several operations to give him back mobility in his lower right leg. heike bruckman, of the peace village, say children like lucas are lucky to make it to germany. >> the kids brought these with them from their home countries. they show pretty well what the conditions are like back there. these are very primitive, some of them are homemade. >> children are brought to peace village four times a year.

they come from more than 300 clinics where they receive free treatment. here lucas and the other children can regather their strength after their operations. >> we're not trying to adapt the children to german life. we want them to cope again when they get back home. that's why we have this closed peace village, where they can speak their language and live out their culture with other kids by listening to music or telling each other stories. the children's medical care is the first priority. doctor hariri is from lebanon and has been volunteering here

since 2006. he comes twice a week to see the patients. >> his right leg is shorter than the left one. that's causing structural problems: his spine is bad, there's no stability. look here: see his right knee and his left knee -- there's a 5-centimeter difference. we have to even that out, and we will of course. when we've finished dealing with his infection, we're going to even out the difference. >> hundreds of children are treated here each year. but bed space is limited -- as are plane tickets. lunchtime. that means one-hundred-fifty mouths to feed. most often there's rice dishes. no german pork dishes here -- most of the children are muslim.

lucas says his favorite meal is noodles with tomato sauce. but they only get that sometimes. for the older children, afternoons are filled with sawing, drilling and hammering. retired carpenter bernd riegel visits peace village twice a week. if you've got four or five kids, there's always one who can translate. once we had an angolan and a cambodian. the angolan was always goofing around, so we called him a clown. but he didn't know that word, so the cambodian, who'd learned some portuguese here, said "arlequino, arlequino." and translated it. that's how we communicate here." >> now we need to make a floor -- otherwise it'll never work.

>> usually, the children have already learned some german in the hospital. they have regular classes here. along with german, they learn math, music, (04:25) and writing. geography is one of the most popular subjects. the teacher has asked her students to draw the countries they come from and things they remember from their homes. this boy, from afghanistan, drew a car and some apples. the next flight leaves in a few weeks. about 90 of the children will be heading back to their home countries, and more will being coming to germany for treatment. as for lucas, he's sticking around.

he's got one more hospital visit before he can go back home. working the earth and seeing the fruits of our labor is a great experience for all of us. in chile's elki valley small garden plots are giving children the opportunity to discover where their beans and potatoes come from. and they've been entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that their plants flourish, despite the increasingly dry conditions. lesson one: make the best use of the limited resources you have: >> water is scarce here in the village of pisco elqui in northern chile. twice a week for an hour, it flows in from a public canal into the children's garden in the middle of town. this 800-square-meter garden is part of an environmental

awareness project just for children: "tierra y valle," means "earth and valley." pilar aguirre grew up in pisco elqui. she started tierra y valle last year as a private initiative. now she has support from the community. >> when we have water, it's a party for the kids. they take off their shoes and get wet right away -- then they want to water the plants. they've learned how important it is to take care of the plants. realize that it's valuable, and they play with it, just like they do with dirt or mud. they're so enthusiastic. >> aguirre teaches the children about the interconnectedness of nature -- and what they can do to protect the environment.

in the garden, each of the children gets a square-meter plot to tend and plant as they see fit. >> look, those are the potatoes you planted last winter. you remember? benjamin planted these potatoes and now see how big they've gotten! the kids learn to be productive. they're creating something new out of the earth. we show them which plants are useful, and when and where to sow the seeds. the kids help each other and they also bring along the knowledge they've picked up at home. we give them instructions so they can put their knowledge to work. but it's also an exchange. >> more than 50 children from the community are already

involved in the project. the ages range from 5 to 13. most have never had a garden before -- but after six months, they're already in the swing of things. >> my grandfather and my father grew vegetables. they taught me a few things. >> you always have to water the plants well so they don't dry out. and you have to remember which ones go in the shade and which ones go in the sun. >> the mountains in the elqui valley were once covered in snow -- even in summer. the melting snow was a major water source for the plant life. but the past few years have seen rising temperatures and less snowfall. rivers in the area are running dry -- and vegetation is disappearing.

>> we have massive problems. for instance, the birds are disappearing because there aren't enough native trees where they can find food. also, the people in the village don't have a place where they can go for outdoor recreation. >> but that's set to change. together with the children from tierra y valle, aguirre is working on a reforestation project. the chilean government has pledged to pitch in 20-thousand euros. together they're working to build a new park out in the mountains, twenty minutes' drive from the village. >> we can plant today. the holes are already there, so each of you can find a spot for your tree.

we've got 40 trees -- enough for everyone! over the coming months, the kids aim to plant a total 500 trees in the new park. their parents and neighbors from the village are helping, too. the project has shown people how much the drought is affecting their valley -- and what they can do about it. the new trees will attract more wildlife -- they'll also help prevent soil erosion. >> there's never been a project like this before. it took a while for us to open up to it, but now that we see what's happening and how many people are involved, we're happy about it and we support it. >> the children plant poplars, willows and privets -- hardy trees, that grow fast and don't need much water. a chilean environmental organization has agreed to donate the water.

>> at tierra y valle we're always concerned with nature. we think it should be green everywhere, that the water must be clean -- just like the whole environment. we're very happy and thankful to have the opportunity to plant here. you can always count on us. let's give ourselves a round of applause. >> the first phase of the "children's forest" is finished. now the community wants to plant even more trees. eventually, they plan to have about 1500. perhaps one day when these children grow up, they can take their children for a walk in the new park they helped build.

>> 2011 was a particularly deadly year for african migrants. according to united nations figures at least some 1500 people died while attempting to reach europe -- and that's a very cautious estimate. the arab spring has brought new liberties for many and it has eased access to the mediterranean. but a lot of migrants never reach the other shore. in high seas on overfilled boats, many lose their lives. most of them in the strait of gibraltar, off the canary islands or near sicily. others die while hidden in containers on trucks and trains traveling to western europe. even before those fleeing from conflict and poverty reach their point of departure from africa, they are likely to have paid traffickers for a treacherous journey across the continent. too few of these stories have a happy end.

>> it's rare that tourists wind up here in sokoto -- and yet the northern nigerian city is filled with hotels. it's a place where many young african migrants come to plan the next steps in their journey toward europe. john earns his living smuggling migrants into neighboring niger. since the arab spring revolutions, the borders have gotten easier to cross -- and more and more africans are trying their luck. >> it's very, very easy because of the crisis up there. if any nigerian wants to go, this is the right time to go. the road is free now. even them themselves they are trying to get out. >> years ago john tried to come to europe. but he was captured in algeria. police abused him -- and then sent back to nigeria. >> any man that has passed through that route i believe is

a strong man. it's not easy. so many people die out there in the desert! when you go through the desert you find so many skulls, women's skeletons. in the desert: it is seriously difficult there. >> many young women come to john to navigate these secret desert routes for them. he takes them a little closer to europe, to the desert town of agadez, some 400 kilometers north. john says he runs an honest business. but he also knows the young women are in great danger.

>> some bad boys on the route, they promise them that they wil help them, they collect money from them and at the end of the day they dump them. and then they start prostitution to get money to continue the journey. >> one of those women is linda. after her smugglers robbed her and left her stranded in libya, the authorities sent her back to nigeria. she wants to try again. to earn enough to travel to europe, linda has started working as a prostitute in sokoto. she says returning to her family in southern nigeria is not an option. as far as her relatives know, she's already in europe. she'd be ashamed if they found out what really happened. >> i want to get something before i go back to my place. i cannot just go back now. starting begging my mom and other people to help me. i can't it will be bad. john knows that many of his clients engage in sex work in order to pay him for his services. but he doesn't feel responsible.

>> sometimes i do have pity about them but everyone wants to make money. there is no work here in nigeria so that we can earn well. but sometimes i feel pity, for sure. john for one doesn't have to worry about money. nowadays, he drives women over the border several times a month. once in niger, he gives them over to the next man in the smuggling network. but john himself is still far from reaching his goal. someday, he says, he wants to take another stab at making it over the mediterranean. >> for more on migration to europe, check out our web site. and that's all we have time for on this edition of global 3000. thanks for watching and don't forget to tune in the same time next week.

bye-bye. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--