>> this week on "global 3000," we head to kyrgyzstan to the largest walnut forest in the world. but, changes to this unique area are posing challenges for locals. we go to singapore where foreign domestic workers suffer frequent ill-treatment at the hands of their employers. and life is tough for migrant workers in qatar, too. loneliness, homesickness -- is it really worth it? the world is a global village. goods and data move seamlessly between countries. and it's the same with labor -- jobs and workers have become global commodities. there are about 150 million migrant workers worldwide, many desperate to earn more than they

can in their homelands. in europe, every sixth job is filled by a foreign worker. that's 16%. in north america, every fifth. u.s. president-elect donald trump has pledged to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the usa. in the arab gulf states, foreign workers make up a third of the workforce. and tiny qatar has more migrant workers percentage-wise than any other country in the world. >> it's friday afternoon in doha and the end of a long week of work for dambar rai. for the past six days, he's worked long hours. his wife is 4000 kilometers away in nepal. >> i'm always thinking about my family. i miss them.

when you are staying without your family, it is very difficult and lonely. >> rai smiles and even laughs when he speaks even though his story is a sad one. >> i passed my class 10. after that one, my father passed away, so i went to college. but i cannot complete college. i leave my college and i support my mother, and i helped my sister and brother study. and i go to a foreign country. many nepalese go there to help their families, so i followed them. >> rai used the money from his first job in dubai to get a driver's license. he then drove a taxi in saudi arabia, and for the past three years, in qatar.

>> i earn around 2000 rial, but normally i save 1500 to 1800 rial. >> that's around 450 euros that rai sends back to nepal, almost his entire monthly wage. compared to other migrant workers here, his income is good, but he faces strict conditions to keep his job. >> we have to make 265 rial, but on some days if we don't make that, we have to refill. at the end of the month, we have to calculate. but if people cannot collect 265 for three months, they are observed. then the company will terminate their contract and send them home. >> there is luxury galore in qatar, but it's completely out of reach for people like rai. he saves every cent for his family back home.

four years ago, rai married and became a father. he stayed in nepal for a few months for the birth of his daughter, but he hasn't seen her since. soon, for the first time in three years, he will visit his family in nepal. >> if we could be together, it would be really amazing. i am deeply lonely and lost. i don't know where i am actually. >> three months later, in ilam, nepal. rai has traveled for 45 hours from doha by plane and bus. the last part of his journey to his home village was on foot. >> my daughter did not know who i was.

after three days, she understood and then she came to me. >> ilam lies in the far east of nepal. it's home to tea plantations and a bit of agriculture, but not much else. like rai, many of the young men have left to work abroad so they can send money back home. rai has come back for his younger brother's wedding. preparatio rai is paying for the celebrations, which are taking place at his house. >> we built this house four years ago. i paid for it with the money i made abroad. >> rai's house has five rooms -- that's big compared to other houses in the area. he even had it built to withstand earthquakes.

when he is away, he wants his wife and daughter to be safe. the next day is the wedding ceremony. rai takes on the role of his father, who died young. >> i am happy. the whole family, guests and all the relations are here. the monsoon has been kind to us today. there's been no heavy rain. >> the groom also works abroad in singapore as a soldier in the army. following the wedding, his bride is set to join him. the festivities are a wedding celebration and going away party in one. dambar rai's family are not allowed to join him in qatar. his income is too low to apply for a visa. in just a few short days, he will be gone and won't be returning anytime soon.

the next morning, rai's daughter begins to suspect that she will soon lose her newly-found father. >> for our daughter, it would be better if her mother and her father were at home. she's asked her dad, where are you going? i told her he's just going to the market for a bit and then he'll be back. >> i'll go abroad for another two years, perhaps. then i want to build something here, maybe a hotel. what i decide to do in the future depends on the situation here.

>> i'd prefer him to stay, but there's no work here. our daughter should go to school. we only have a future if he works abroad. >> it's very fast, it's finished like two days. so i'm very upset and leaving to my family. but i have to go, we have to go, we have to work. >> dambar rai's temporary home, qatar, is notorious for exploiting its migrant workers, especially on the construction sites for the 2022 soccer world cup stadiums. around the world, many migrant workers share a common aim -- improving their families' economic situation back at home. this year, that financial support totaled an estimated 500 billion euros.

savings scraped together from often brutal work. >> jami weighs just 31 kilos. her boss would give her one slice of bread a day and a little coffee. he kept her locked in the house and at some point had stopped paying her. two days ago, she managed to make her escape. >> two workmen came into the kitchen. they left the back door open, so i just ran out. sometimes in the evening i would eat my boss's leftovers. i was too frightened to tell him i was hungry. he was always yelling at me. >> this shelter currently offers safe haven to 91 women. it's run by jolovan wham of the charity "home", together with a group of volunteers. >> labor standards such as statutory public holidays, limits to their working hours, overtime pay, so all this is denied to domestic workers here.

so this, of course, makes them very vulnerable to exploitation, because they depend on the goodwill of employers in order to be well-treated. >> the women who've fled to the safety of home have been exploited, cheated out of their money, often physically and mentally abused. and all that in the modern metropolis of singapore, the wealthy city state with its veneer of western sophistication. but it takes hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers to keep its shiny facade polished, including 200,000 domestic workers. they're brought to market in the center of singapore, offered to households for a pittance by agencies. women who come from indonesia, myanmar or the philippines in search of a better life for their families back home. as a domestic worker, they can earn more in singapore than doctors or academics in their home countries. and the recruiting agencies make handsome profits with their human merchandise. demand is high. a housemaid is a must, even for singapore's lower middle class.

suzane tan has arrived to pick up the new domestic worker she ordered by phone. apriana is from indonesia. she's 35 and has a six-year-old daughter, but that doesn't interest suzane tan. all she wants to know is if apriana can clean and cook well. >> one of the maids have been with me, this year will have been the eighth year. that is a philippina maid. if you have a maid from the same country, usually they will have a lot to talk, and then sometimes they are too nice to each other. >> the agency boss tells apriana the rules. no gossiping, no visitors. >> ma'am won't tolerate if you tell lies. you make mistake, you learn from that mistake. and apologize and say sorry, but don't repeat that same mistake. and laziness is really not allowed, right. you cannot be lazy, you must be hard working and pay attention in the training. >> for the first four months, apriana forfeits her entire wages to the agency.

a total of 1600 euros. >> i'm not nervous, but i try to follow the instructions in the house, what ma'am say. everything i do the best. >> but if apriana's new boss isn't happy with her, she can exchange her free of charge. apriana will work together with suzanne tan's other maid dalia. they'll share this cubby hole next to the kitchen. six square metres, zero privacy. they get one day off a month, but tan is not happy with that she says that on their days off, the women sometimes meet up with foreign men who are also working in singapore. and if a domestic worker gets pregnant, she has to be repatriated at the employer's expense.

the lucky plaza shopping mall is a favorite hangout for many of the domestic workers when they've got some time off. some are desperate. for them, the home charity has opened an office here. >> my boss also made me clean his sister's house and a girlfriend's. it was so hard. i got no breakfast, not enough to eat. i only ever got rice and eggs. >> the charity takes clete lizle to the refuge, and notifies the authorities of her situation, but they won't do much. they only get active when employers don't pay wages, or abuse maids physically or mentally. there's no thought given to laws to improve maids' conditions. all the ministry of manpower has to say is that singapore values its household helps, and does its best to take care of them. after two days, apriana and dalia have found a common

wavelength. they may come from different countries and speak different mother tongues, but they have the same thoughts. >> my daughter is still small, about six years. sometimes if i call her, she talk, why you go there, why you not here with me? yeah, you still small so you don't understand. but i have to plan for your future, but my mother still needs me to help her. >> your children are not here, your family are not here. i need to think for the future of my daughter. because i don't want some day my daughter is the same as me, you know. it's very difficult, you know, so difficult so far to your family. >> apriana keeps pictures of her daughter on her mobile phone, but the recruitment agency has confiscated it from her for the first month. it wants her to work and not waste time thinking about her loved ones. she's signed a two-year contract with suzane tan. maybe she can extend it.

the family back home is counting on her. ♪ >> my name is khalil martinez and i am 16 years old and i live in san ignacio, belize, central america. here in the caribbean there is soca, reggae, dancehall, but the one i love the most is reaggae. ♪

my dream job would be an actor or a musician. going on tours around the world and performing for big crowds. and for the acting, performing in big movies, blockbuster movies that would anybody go like -- wow, this guy is the coolest, but that's just a dream. ♪ belize is a very, very green place. you won't see a lot of buildings. it has more trees than concrete or skyscrapers, because these we don't have those here. it's rural. it's central america, so there are tropical creatures. i have two brothers, two sisters, one maternal and the

other three are paternal. a stepmom and a stepdad. neville is my cousin, closest cousin, he is my first cousin. we are like brothers. we can relate. same age. we do everything together. ♪ in the future, i hope that everyone still has a sense of kindness and personality, because they just going to get sucked up into technology like phones and tablets. they put you on the earth to do something and you have a purpose on this earth. my biggest fear is not to accomplish that. and to see everyone going through hard times and hardship. i want to help them and if i am not there to help them, what am

i here for? ♪ >> and now to our global ideas series, where we meet people dedicated to preserving our planet's species. in kyrgyzstan in central asia, many are dependent on the annual walnut harvest. the country's walnut forest is a unique ecosystem. our reporter, kerstin palzer, went to see it and find out more about the challenges local people are facing. ♪ kerstin: arstanali matkadirov tells us this forest is unique, his voice tinged with awe as he says it. he lives in the world's largest walnut forest in the south of kyrgyzstan.

the ancient forest has grown to cover 30,000 hectares. arstanali's life is closely entwined with nature. >> i've lived off the walnuts since i was a child. that's how we earn our living in the village. the walnut harvest is extremely important for us. it's our main source of income. kerstin: at sunrise the next day, arstanali and his brother ikram take us up into the hills. walnut trees grow at an elevation of 2000 metres above sea level. we're in the foothills of the tian shan mountains. the two brothers are worried. last year's walnut harvest was the worst in living memory.

this year is a little better, but a lot of the trees have taken a battering. >> the wind broke off branches everywhere. the trees are so old. we need younger trees. kerstin: a lack of young trees is a fundamental problem of the kyrgyz walnut forest. there are very few around. the villagers here have been harvesting the walnuts for generations. they lease their plots from the state. but those very people also put their herds out to graze in the woods. and they effectively gobble up the next generation's trees. it takes 30 years for a walnut tree to grow to maturity. arstanali matkadirov tells us that the walnut forest used to be really dense here. and there's also been a lot of deforestation.

it may be forbidden, but it's hard to monitor and prevent. the nuts are primarily brought down by young men, who climb up the trees to shake their branches until the nuts fall off. there's no alternative here. a risky business, but effective. then, the whole family comes along to pick up the latest harvest. walnut trees can grow to a height of 40 metres, so shaking nuts out of them is physically demanding and also quite dangerous. >> when i'm climbing, i always try to hold a branch in one hand, with the other on another branch. obviously the higher you go, the more dangerous it gets. kerstin: we want to know if there has been an accident. >> i haven't seen any myself,

but i know that a few from my village have fallen, and some have even died. >> many people have temporary homes for the walnut harvest. she invites us into her home. the kyrgyz are traditionally a nomadic people and mostly muslim. furniture is rare. everyone sleeps on mats on the ground, grateful to allah for their health and a good harvest. >> four of us work here. my two sons, my daughter-in-law and myself. in a good year, we gather two or three tons of walnuts, but this year, we've barely collected 300 kilos. >> nonetheless, the markets of jalalabad are still full of nuts. in the shell, they cost around 2 euros a kilo. but without the shell, they'll

bring 6 euros, so it pays to crack them open. during the soviet era, all the nuts had to be turned over to the state. these farmers say that's something they don't want to go back to ever again. reforesting offers a chance of improving future harvests. abdumalik khamraev is something of a village elder here -- everyone goes to him for advice. these small and rather dried out looking shoots are actually two-year-old walnut trees. >> if there wasn't a fence here, the local livestock would soon be along to graze. you can see that the other side is completely barren, but look at how green and beautiful this is. >> kyrgyz environmentalists have teamed up with germany's society for international cooperation, the giz, to try and improve the situation.

doing things like putting up fences to keep livestock away from the young plants. the fences are supplied as part of the project. the locals couldn't afford to pay for them. and as traditional nomads, they're also not familiar with them. but abdumalik khamraev says these fences are his gift to the next generation. zakirchodscha sarymsakov is an expert on biodiversity in kyrgyzstan. he supports the giz project. he tells us that not everyone around here practices sustainability. >> we're busy trying to start a dialogue with the locals who use this forest. people are learning to protect it and to think about the future. that's why we go into schools to give lessons in ecology.

we also go into the mosques, so that people's behavior changes. >> at the same time, the activists also promote other sources of income for the village such as dried apples or forest-grown herbs. arstanali matkadirov was able to use this dryer to compensate for last year's catastrophic walnut harvest. no one here can imagine a life without the forest, but in the future, their focus will be on how to live with it rather than off it. >> we'll be back next week, and in the meantime, do write to us. and check out our new facebook page -- dwglobalsociety.

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