rainforest, where a small berry has become a global hit. how is it grown? in africa, an employment agency is attracting professionals back to the continent, where their skills are desperately needed. and we meet a very special woman who has dramatically changed the lives of hundreds of street kids. worldwide, at least 150 million children live on the streets. and not just in poorer countries. in germany, an estimated 32,000 children and young people have no roof over their heads. in britain, the figure is as high as 120,000.

in nigeria, more than 1.2 million children have left their homes, many of them fleeing the terror group boko haram. in china, 1.5 million children are homeless. and in one of the world's richest countries, the u.s., that number is more than 2.5 million. in brazil, 10 million street kids fight for survival on a daily basis. in ukraine, we met a woman from ghana, who has dedicated her life to caring for street children. reporter: ten years ago, harriet bruce-annan brought these street kids to an orphanage she'd founded. harriet: this is veronica. here's priscilla. this is derek. and this is ashley. this is abraham. and this is james brown. reporter: this is james brown today. the 27-year-old is studying agriculture in kyiv.

he and the other former street children were given the chance to get an education, and they're using it. they have harriet bruce-annan to thank. she helped them get accepted at universities in kyiv. now they're medical students, i.t. majors, law and business students. why in ukraine? because, according to harriet, it's a country like ghana, striving for democracy. harriet: they are learning valuable lessons because the problems here are also happening in most of african countries. and then they can learn that people sued and fought for democracy. richard: the youth don't give up in ukraine. they always stand for their country. whilst in ghana, youth are always leaving their leaders to do whatever they like. it shouldn't be so. reporter: ukrainian law requires the students return to ghana after graduating. harriet is keen for them to

bring their skills back to ghana. 15 years ago, she moved to dusseldorf. she worked there as a cleaning lady, and sent her savings to ghana to build an orphanage. she looked for sponsors and donations, and founded the organization african angel. for a long time, the children and students didn't know that harriet had to scrub toilets in dusseldorf to finance their education. that came as a surprise. >> what did you feel? james: humility, at the peak. if someone like mommy is this humble and cleans toilets to get money together for, let's say, me -- i have no reason to say i'm not learning. and that applies to all of us.

mary: for me, i didn't know what to say, because i wasn't going to school, and for someone to clean toilets just to take care of me -- i was really happy. i didn't know what to tell her, because i wasn't going to school, i had nowhere to go. so just to have that chance to go to school -- ok for me. reporter: one of the students, mary, comes from bucum, a poor neighborhood in the ghanaian capital accra. her parents were unemployed, and unable to take care of her. to prevent the girls from entering prostitution, and the boys from living on the street, harriet brought them to the orphanage. for a long time, harriet kept silent about her sacrifices. she just wanted the children to get on in life and contribute to their country's development. harriet: if they are studying in industrial countries and they stay there, who cares about

them? but when they take it to where they really need them, that it where they can really have a great impact on the society from where they are coming from. james: my primary aim is to go back to ghana, improve the conditions, assist somebody, help somebody. everybody is complaining, everybody is talking about the system, so if you have the opportunity, i think i shouldn't be selfish about it. i've got education, i've got knowledge, i have something to do with my hand. so i go back home. i have a couple of businesses in my mind already. yeah, i want to become a big-time entrepreneur. reporter: one of james' business ideas came from the finest chocolatiere in ukraine. he loves the beautifully packed pralines and dreams of opening a shop like this in his homeland.

james: where do they get this chocolate from? where do they get the cocoa from? probably from ghana. yeah, from ghana. so, if you can produce it there, then we can help the country's economy. richard: in ghana, we have cocoa. we have sugar. we have other fruits. and then you can make this one in other flavors, too. it's cocoa, but you add something like pineapple, something like apple, something like banana, something like poco, to give it different flavors. reporter: the young people have learned a lot in ukraine. they enjoy the market banter. and the vendors, who appreciate their company, are happy to reward their haggling with good prices, and even a present. harriet's days cleaning toilets are long gone. she now manages the african angel organization.

she's delighted to see how well the children have turned out. harriet: they're independent. they're confident. they have chances in life. they know exactly what to expect. that makes me happy and proud. no one can push them around. they know exactly what they want. reporter: next year, james and richard are set to be the first in the group to graduate. and they'll always be grateful to harriet for giving them such a great start in life. host: what can be done when the highly-skilled of a country move abroad, taking their knowledge with them? according to recent statistics, brain drain robs africa of as

many as one-third of its professionals each year -- and their talents are sorely missed. to bridge the skills gap, africa's institutions recruit professionals from abroad, including scientists and engineers. all of which costs the continent $4 billion u.s. each year. and yet, very few highly-skilled africans are returning home. reporter: sai chalamanda is sometimes amazed by what he's managed to achieve. the architect has just won a contract to design this hospital in his home country of malawi -- one of the world's poorest nations. 16 years ago he left malawi for england. he couldn't imagine a future for himself here. sai: malawi is quite a challenging country in terms of economy and business. like, when you're dreaming big,

to do big projects, to rely on a loan from the bank, it's almost like impossible. the interest rates are so high, so huge. so in my case, what i've done is like, to start small. reporter: back in malawi, sai founded his own company in a run-down industrial area of lilongwe. initially he ran a photocopy service. the business was a success despite the fact that half of malawi's population lives on less than a dollar a day. sai began printing t-shirts and then got his first major contracts. with the profit, he set up his own architecture firm. sai: malawi is still developing, so there are some things that, like say in u.s. or u.k., they already started doing that maybe for the past seven, 10 years, but if you bring them home, it

might be a new thing, and that might be a new business idea. reporter: this agency in johannesburg, south africa helps africans return after studying abroad. it has a database of highly-qualified africans who've gone overseas. its clients are african companies that are looking for well-qualified employees who know the continent well. nearly three quarters of african graduates work abroad. angel jones says her agency has brought back around 1000 people, though the reason for returning often extends beyond the promise of a good job. >> when i get up -- i'm sorry -- every morning when i get up, i sit under a clear blue sky. reporter: for both the candidate and angel, there's a lot more going on here than just business. angel: business on the continent

in africa, it's a lot about relationships, relationships, relationships. so they want somebody who might be international, who might have been there for ten years, but they've still got those key people on the continent who've got those relationships, for new business development, for route to market, for all of those different things. reporter: shelton siziba is someone that has these kind of contacts and a good job as an engineer. but when he travels by taxi through zimbabwe's capital harare, he's clear about why he wants to leave the country. zimbabwe is in a financial crisis. and those who get the chance to leave, usually do so. there are potholes everywhere -- even here in the capital. and in the city suburbs, money is exchanged. state debentures are now the new currency, though many shops only accept u.s. dollars. shelton: i don't live only for myself, i live for my children. when i look at the education

standards here in zimbabwe, they are quite bad. and the salary that i get, right now with the situation in zimbabwe, it's almost like hand-to-mouth. reporter: shelton is one of zimbabwe's well-educated, young middle class. he says his country is in a mess. he's been planning to leave for months. many of his former colleagues have already gone. and while he and his wife and their two sons lead a relatively good life here, they dream of more. ideally, they'd like to move to australia, but they have also considered canada or germany. shelton: the salaries are good in my profession. i'm able to save. the fact that i will be able to save, then that means i'll be able to make a certain investment for my children, and at the same time, i'll be able to -- if there were opportunities, i'll be able to start up my own business. reporter: shelton says he can't

see any chance of that happening in zimbabwe. he says no agency in the world could convince him to stay or even return later in life. architect sai chalamanda, on the other hand, says returning to malawi has definitely been worth it for him. and he says he didn't need an agency to convince him to return home. it was his wife joan who gave him the courage to come back. when he left for england, she chose to remain in malawi. joan: people are being helped by what he's doing. so people are getting paid, their families are being supported, because of what he's doing. had he stayed there, i think all these people who are working under him, i don't know what would have happened, yeah. reporter: joan and sai are sure their future lies in malawi. and they believe that ultimately it's africans themselves who will make a real and lasting difference to their countries'

struggling economies. host: in cities like berlin, this is the latest hype -- acai bowls. it's the super-food of the moment, and it's especially popular with vegans and fitness-focused urbanites. >> we get our acai frozen from brazil, since it's impossible to get acai fresh here in europe. host: in our global ideas series, we went in quest of this miracle berry. acai palms grow mainly in the amazon basin. the berries are harvested between july and december. only a fraction of them are exported -- mainly to the u.s. and japan. most of them are consumed in brazil. our reporter, bianca kopsch, went to brazil to find out more about this small but mighty super-berry.

bianca: every night, tons of berries change hands at the port of belem in the brazilian amazon. acai has attained super-food status. for its fans, it's a miracle worker -- fighting wrinkles, obesity, and some say even cancer. demand is growing worldwide, not only as an ingredient for cosmetics and medicines, but especially as food. the acai berries are mashed at the vero-peso market next door. the thick juice has traditionally served as an accompaniment to fried fish here in the northern brazilian state of para. but not only that -- >> acai suits everything. and it tastes good, too. >> families here introduce their children to acai at an early age. >> without acai, my stomach feels empty.

bianca: three hours south of belem, in the middle of the amazon delta, acai palm trees line the riverbanks. para is brazil's largest acai producer and together with the state of amazonas, provides an estimated 85% of global supply. the village of igarape miri is known as the world capital of acai. beraca, a sustainable ingredients company, sources berries to use in cosmetics here. erica pereira is responsible for promoting sustainability. she's showing project partners how acai can be cultivated in an eco-friendly way. erica: we look for areas with sustainable cultivation and help advise growers to avoid overproduction. when it comes to the forest, it should be productive, but at the same time preserve the natural balance.

bianca: some 30 farming families have joined together to form a cooperative. the acai grows, protected, in the middle of the rainforest. that's one of the most important prerequisites for getting organic certification. deforestation, artificial fertilizer, and insecticides aren't allowed. rosivaldo: that's what organic looks like here. these leaves work as fertilizer. bianca: rosivaldo costa used to cut down the forest to grow rice and cassava and to harvest the hearts of the acai palm. but he didn't earn much. he'd get about 30 euro cents for a palm heart. for a cluster of organic acai, he gets five times as much. rosivaldo: we only chop down the tallest palm trees. you can hardly climb up them -- they can break.

bianca: harvesting requires stamina and muscle power. in the main harvest season from august to december, the farmer's son climbs up to 100 palms a day to pick acai. the berries need six months to ripen. since costa stopped cutting the forest, the harvest has increased. the trees protect each other from the sun and stop the fruits drying out. rosivaldo: in the past this was just a husk, without much juice. today, they are juicier. a protected area like this one brings more juice. bianca: but the farmers had to be persuaded to try this cultivation method. beraca supported the farmers and now benefits from their higher yields. for these high-quality acai, the company pays almost double the price earned from conventionally farmed berries.

beraca tested the economic impact as part of the t.e.e.b. project, which stands for the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. the brazilian ministry of the environment, the national industrial association, and the german agency for international cooperation, or g.i.z., are involved. luciana: the teeb approach is to look at natural resources in economic terms, because most of them have had no clear value. so the project tries to make something tangible and real that didn't have a clear value until now. otavio: and how to integrate that value into business decisions. bianca: one study compared different ways of farming acai. it concluded that organic forest

farming -- like costa does -- is 45% more productive than conventional methods. this farmers' collective from igarape miri has been supplying beraca since 2009. they've negotiated a purchase guarantee and a fixed price. that provides security for the families here. the study shows incomes in the community have increased significantly with the switch to organic. what beraca doesn't buy, it sells to other customers. but they're not ready to pay the organic premium. the acai will be delivered to a branch of beraca just outside belem. first, the berries are soaked, and then dried. as a result, the thin fruit layer crumbles. it's then removed from the core in the next step. the result is a kind of peat.

>> this peat still contains about 20% oil. bianca: it takes almost 70 kilograms of acai to produce a liter of oil. beraca also processes other primary forest fruits into ingredients for natural cosmetics and exports them to more than 40 countries. the demand for natural products is growing. erica: the companies that buy our products nowadays feel a lot of pressure from their end customers for more natural products. bianca: the company aims to be as sustainable as possible. it wants to safeguard supplies from the amazon rainforest, and that includes brazil's sought-after super-berry. host: don't forget to check out our facebook page -- dw global society. there, you'll also meet our berlin globals -- people from all over the world who live in berlin. what do they like about their city? today we talk to hamid sulaiman. ♪

hamid: when i left syria, i was like, i needed to start a new project. i've always wanted to do a comic book or an animation before, and then i moved more to comics. this was also helping me psychologically, as some sort of therapy, some sort of cathartic work to express yourself. it's like some sort of writing, it's like getting healed. i came here for the first time to participate in this exhibition, and since this moment, i said, ok, this city seems to be interesting. i like the art scene here in berlin. i like this new contemporary culture everywhere.

the freedom of speech, it's basic for any artist. in syria, we're not allowed to touch subjects like sex, politics or religion, and this is like, what should you work about if you can't speak about any sensitive subjects? so here, it's really amazing to have this freedom of speech, of expressing yourself in all kind of forms and media. today, we are here in the gallery to see the work of the french artist, emmanuel tussore. and today we are having a talk here about architecture and how the destruction affected cities like aleppo and homs. i left syria early, like the end of 2011, i went to paris. and like, i was touched of course when i saw photos coming

from homs in the beginning, daraa, and then aleppo more and more. and with time, i started also to find conflict started to get more close to damascus. when it happens to you, to your memories, to where you come from, the effect is way much harder to deal with. syrian cultural life here in berlin is getting more productive even than how it used to be in damascus, because it's mostly syrian people who have this syrian experience, damascus experience -- they move to berlin, here they are taking advantages from learning about other cultures somehow and taking the best of both cultures. each city, i learn the culture of the city.

since i'm here in berlin, there's tattoo, graffiti, techno music, a lot of things that i wasn't that much into. but like, i played basketball in all of those cities, that's something that never changed. i cook syrian food wherever i go at my home. and now i'm starting to mix it with more plates from all over the world, having the advantage of this. so, this is how it gets always, to mixture. mixture is, like, richness? how you say, richness? mixture is richness. host: that's all for today. thanks for joining us. we love hearing from you, so do drop us a line to global3000@dw.com or on facebook. see you next time. bye for now. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

steves: from the destruction of world war ii, europe has steadily rebuilt itself into a forward-looking and united continent. with the creation of the european union, economic integration has made another devastating war unthinkable.

there has been a massive investment in cutting-edge infrastructure projects. efficient high-speed rail systems tie europe together. superhighways and stunning bridges further enhance the continent-wide transportation system. within cities, sleek subways move millions underground. on the streets above, public transit reduces traffic congestion. and nearly every city is creating traffic-free pedestrian zones, making urban life even more people-friendly. as the world grapples with climate change, europe is taking a leading role in developing alternative energy sources.

and while still preserving the historic character of its cities, europe has found a way to integrate innovative architecture into the landscape, giving the old world a modern face. and the human face of contemporary europe is more diverse and vibrant than ever. even as this continent of 500 million people unites, it's finding ways to allow its rich mix of cultures to celebrate their unique identities. from norway to greece and from portugal to bulgaria, people are proud to preserve their distinct languages, foods, and traditions.

- [female voice over]: this program is made possible in part by the town of marion, home of the wayne henderson school of appalachian arts, celebrating 21 years as a certified virginia main street community. the historic general francis marion hotel and the speak easy restaurant and lounge, providing accommodations and casual fine dining. in downtown marion, virginia. the bank of marion. technology powered, service driven. wbrf 98.1 fm. and bryant label, a proud supporter of our region's musical heritage. ("cherokee shuffle" by gerald anderson) ♪