captioning funded by cbs and ford >> stahl: with congress having barred any guantanamo bay detainee from setting foot on u.s. soil, and president obama vowing to shut the prison down, life at gitmo grinds on. we were given a tour of camp five echo block, where detainees began to protest the moment we arrived. it was the first time video cameras were allowed inside this wing of the facility where detainees who have attacked military guards are held. we were told to move as fast as possible. >> rose: billionaires don't usually like to talk about their wealth, but this group has. they and others like them have all pledged to give at least half of their incredible

fortunes away to charity-- a half a trillion dollars, so far. >> government is showing, you know, over the last couple of decades that it can no longer solve the great problems of the day. now, these philanthropists who have incredible wealth, and also the name and the influence, are uniquely qualified right now to solve the huge problems. >> simon: garbage is the only crop in cateura-- ten cents for a pound of plastic; five cents for a pound of cardboard. you'll be amazed at what else people here are doing with this trash. ♪ ♪ this is the recycled orchestra of cateura. the violins are fashioned from oven trays, the saxophones and trumpets are made from old drain

pipes, the keys were once coins and bottle caps. ♪ ♪ >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm bob simon. >> i'm lara logan. >> i'm charlie rose. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." [ male announcer ] every inch. every minute. every second -- we chip away. making the colors of earth and sunset skies

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>> stahl: if there's a heaven above and a hell below, then limbo can be found just 90 miles off the coast of florida at the u.s. naval base at guantanamo bay, cuba. there, prisoners who've been scooped up in the war on terror have remained locked up, most for 11 years now without being charged. and it's cost taxpayers $5 billion, so far. two weeks ago, we reported on the handful of the prisoners going on trial. tonight, we'll tell you about the others, many of whom can't be tried. the evidence against them is weak or inadmissible-- in some cases, because it was obtained

through "enhanced interrogation techniques." with congress having mandated that none of the detainees can set foot on u.s. soil, and president obama vowing to shut the prison down, life at guantanamo bay grinds on. we were granted extraordinary access, particularly at the prison camp. you will see "gitmo," as it's called, like you've never seen it before. the only way onto the naval base is by boat. we were ferried across the bay on a coast guard security vessel armed with 50- and 30-caliber machine guns. >> our standing order is: no one in, no one out. we will not let any vessel in unless it's properly vetted. >> stahl: the boats patrol 24 miles of ocean front. the main concern-- an al qaeda saboteur staging an attack. the naval base is a speck of territory at the far eastern tip of cuba-- at its heart, the detention center.

>> john bogdan: hey, john bogdan. how you doing? >> stahl: army colonel john bogdan is the commander-- in effect, the warden. so this is where all the detainees are housed? >> bogdan: the bulk of them. >> stahl: the facility is modeled after maximum security prisons in the u.s., and yet it cost 35 times more here, at up to $2.7 million a year per prisoner. how many detainees in all in the whole facility? >> bogdan: 164. >> stahl: and is khalid sheikh mohammed and the 9/11 five right here in this part? >> bogdan: no, they are in a separate facility for the high- value detainees. >> stahl: is it a secret? >> bogdan: it is. it's a classified location. >> stahl: classified, so we can't see that? >> bogdan: no, we can't. >> stahl: and how old is the oldest person here and the youngest person? >> bogdan: the oldest, i believe, is 63; the youngest is around 30. >> stahl: he took us onto one of the cell blocks where the detainees are kept in single cells.

>> bogdan: this is bravo block in camp five, which is generally where we put detainees that are on discipline status. >> shaker aamer: i know that for a fact... >> stahl: that's one of the detainees talking? >> bogdan: it is. >> stahl: in english. >> bogdan: yes. >> aaamer: please, we are tired. either you leave us to die in peace or either tell the world the truth. open up the place, let the world come and visit! >> stahl: it was rattling to hear a detainee's voice like that, so despairing, and to get such a raw sense of what it's like here. how much does this go on? >> bogdan: pretty much constantly. >> stahl: constantly. >> aamer: please, colonel, act with us like a human being, not like slaves. >> stahl: you know who he is? how long has he been here? >> bogdan: pretty much everybody we have here has been here since it first opened in '02 and '03. >> stahl: since he made such a

ruckus, we wanted to find out more about him. he is detainee 239, whose name, we have learned, is shaker aamer. he was born in saudi arabia, but he became a resident of great britain. >> aamer: you cannot walk, not even half a meter without being chained. is that a human being? that's the treatment of an animal! >> stahl: it turns out the shaker aamer case has reached all the way into 10 downing street in london. this is a july 4, 2013, letter from prime minister david cameron saying, "we want shaker aamer released and returned to the u.k. as a matter of urgency". cameron also says that he has personally raised the case with president obama. >> aamer: it's very sad what's happening in this place. >> clive stafford smith: oh, i'd know that voice anywhere, yeah. >> stahl: clive stafford smith is aamer's lawyer. >> smith: what i've said and what shaker said for years is,

if you've got any allegations against him, put up or shut up. but the mere fact... >> stahl: he's never been charged. >> smith: never been charged. >> stahl: and he's been sitting there how long? >> smith: for 11 years. >> stahl: shaker aamer has been accused of being a close associate of osama bin laden, which he denies. but like more than half of the detainees still here, he has been approved for transfer out of guantanamo-- in his case, twice-- by military and intelligence officials under both president bush and president obama. so why is he still here? it's the conundrum of guantanamo bay. everything gets stuck, sometimes for reasons that no one can explain. i'm trying to understand how a prisoner who's been cleared to leave twice, with an appeal from a prime minister of a friendly country, and he's still sitting there. i'm just trying to figure out why he's still there. >> smith: and i think it's a fascinating question. and i would love a little more transparency. >> stahl: what's the official

explanation? >> smith: i wish someone official would give me an explanation. and they won't. no one will say why they won't let him go. >> stahl: but he was not cleared for release, he was cleared for "transfer," as this document shows, "subject to appropriate security measures." if he did go back, would he be locked up again? would he be monitored? or would he just be a free man? >> smith: shaker has agreed to whatever conditions the british want to put on him, because he has nothing to hide. >> stahl: aamer was picked up in afghanistan and was among the first detainees brought to guantanmo bay in 2002, when there was only one camp, x-ray. it's closed now, overrun with weeds and banana rats, and vestiges of the old interrogation rooms. as more prisoners were brought here, so were more military and civilian personnel, now numbering 5,500.

so now, there's a typical american suburb in cuba, with a mcdonald's, an elementary school, soccer fields, and iguanas, next to 17 miles of razor wire, guard towers and surveillance cameras everywhere. so this is the control room. what are they monitoring? what are they looking at? >> bogdan: well, they've got... there's cameras in every cell. >> stahl: every cell? every single cell? you're watching everything...? >> bogdan: everything. >> stahl: the compliant detainees are allowed to walk in and out of their cells to an outdoor recreation yard, where many of them say their daily prayers, and then into a communal room, where the detainees mingle with one another. >> bogdan: what you're looking at right now, you can see just the top on one detainee there. he's at one of the tables. >> stahl: with his headphones on. >> bogdan: exactly. they watch tv and they also have radio stations, satellite radio stations. >> stahl: we're not allowed to show the faces of the detainees.

we had to submit every bit of our video to military censors... so what is it that you wanted us to cut out there? ...who made us delete or blur out any faces that we accidentally recorded. colonel bogdan brought us to another cell block where the detainees locked in their cells began to protest the moment we arrived. it was the first time video cameras were allowed onto echo block, where detainees who have attacked guards are held. they banged and shook their steel doors with such force, it was frightening, and so deafening, we couldn't hear each other. colonel bogdan told us to walk as fast as possible. the guards were wearing splash masks over their faces and white overalls that i gather are disposables. i mean, what are they guarding themselves against?

>> bogdan: generally guarding against being struck by... by what we call a "splashing"-- feces, urine, semen, blood, whatever the detainees can... >> stahl: they throw those out of those cells? >> bogdan: they do. >> stahl: how often does that happen? >> bogdan: pretty much daily. >> stahl: when the banging started, i was under the impression that it was a protest directed specifically at the warden. >> bogdan: without a doubt, when i show up, it gets them spun up a little bit more. >> stahl: that's because, when he became warden in 2012, he began cracking down, which, the detainee's lawyers say, enflamed the situation. first, he ordered a search of the cells-- looking, he says, for contraband-- and then a full-on raid. >> bogdan: we had to send forces in, get into the main floor here and secure the area. >> stahl: so a real operation, a military operation? >> bogdan: certainly. we had to physically come in and either physically restrain them- - get them on the ground, get them into the cells. after we entered the first

block, they seemed to get the idea that we were serious. >> stahl: after the raid, a hunger strike swept across the facility. at the peak, i think there were 106 men-- i mean, that's almost two-thirds of everybody in the prison, the detention center-- were refusing to eat. why did they go on the hunger strike? >> bogdan: well, their primary complaint was to leave gitmo. >> stahl: to just get out of here? >> bogdan: mm-hmm. >> stahl: that makes sense. >> bogdan: that was... that was what they were asking for. >> stahl: yeah. and they wanted to get some international attention, and they did. >> bogdan: mm-hmm. >> stahl: so, mission accomplished, from their perspective. >> bogdan: certainly. >> stahl: at one point, 45 hunger strikers were being strapped into restraining chairs twice a day and force-fed ensure, the dietary supplement. bogdan also ordered thorough pat-downs involving invasive searches of the groin anytime a detainee was moved from his cell block, something particularly abhorrent to muslims, and it was

denounced by a federal district court judge in washington. many of the military defense lawyers have written to secretary of defense hagel to complain about the way you're running the prison. and they asked him for an examination-- and this is a quote-- "of your fitness for this job." what's your reaction to that? >> bogdan: i'm still here. >> stahl: did you ever consider or even offer to resign this position? >> bogdan: i did not. >> stahl: we wondered why he gave us so much access to the facility and why he didn't censor the protests. he says everything he's done, he's done to protect the guards, and he wanted to show us what they're up against. >> bogdan: all i ever read and what i see talks about, you know, either what's going wrong, what has gone wrong, or what somebody thinks went wrong. and that leaves the impression that the soldiers aren't doing

their job and that they aren't performing admirably and they aren't working their asses off. and they are. >> stahl: and do you see... you have stress issues with the soldiers? >> bogdan: certainly. the incidence of p.t.s.d. is almost twice that seen from regular aligned forces. >> stahl: twice what they see on the battlefield? do you know why? >> bogdan: here, on a 12-hour shift, a 12-hour time in the camps, you're in enemy contact for 12 straight hours. and the threat of harm and fear and physical... physical assault is there continuously. >> stahl: what struck us here is that everybody is trapped, the guards and the prisoners. and even president obama, who says guantanamo bay has become so notorious it has, "likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained." yet he can't ignore the fact that, of the 606 prisoners already released, 100 have gone on to commit acts of terror. there have been those who've joined extremist groups.

there have been those involved in suicide bombings. >> smith: look, there's no question that there are problems that we face. >> stahl: colonel bogdan says that these are men who are taken off the battlefield so that they will stop committing the acts of terrorism that they are accused of or believed to have done. this is where they're taken until the war is over. >> smith: there's never been a war that's lasted this long, where we've held people for 12 years. world war i lasted four years, world war ii lasted six years. how many decades does he think we just hold them there? >> let the world hear what's happening! >> stahl: do you feel any sympathy for his situation? >> bogdan: to be locked up or detained for ten years or 11 years? sure, i mean, i'm sympathetic to that. but at the same time, i mean, these men are enemies to us, just as we are enemies to them, so i... >> stahl: so that's the mentality of everybody here. >> bogdan: certainly.

>> good evening. boeing has sold 76 billion dollars worth of planes to emirates airlines. toyota, honda and hunt day will debut high drone general fuel cell cars this week and sony says more than a million playstation 4 units were sold in the 24 hours after the console was released. i'm jeff glor. cbs news.

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>> rose: today, the wealthiest 400 americans are worth over $2 trillion. together, it's been reported they own as much wealth as the bottom half of american households combined. while resentment towards the super-rich grows, there may be a

silver lining taking shape. it turns out a lot of those rich people are giving staggering sums of money away in what is being called a golden age of philanthropy. and this surge in generosity is not by accident. much of it is the result of an ambitious and targeted campaign called "the giving pledge." it was started by an influential trio-- bill and melinda gates, and warren buffett. we waited for the opportunity to get them together to learn more about their new club for billionaires. membership comes with just two requirements-- be worth at least a billion dollars and be willing to give half of that away. is it necessary to join the giving pledge that you promise 50% of your net worth? >> melinda gates: yes, in your lifetime or in your will. >> rose: or in your will. >> warren buffett: right. >> rose: are people shocked by that? >> buffett: i don't think so. >> melinda gates: we're asking them to be bold. we're asking them to step out and to do something big. but a lot of them were already on their way there and just

hadn't put a numeric number behind it. and i think now, also, the giving pledge has gotten going, people know that's the expectation. >> buffett: and we don't... we don't find a lot of people that say, "i want to join if it was 40%." ( laughter ) >> rose: some may say, "i'm happy to give much more than 50%." >> buffett: oh, most of them. most. my guess is that a very significant percentage of our... our members, i mean, way over half are going to give a lot more than half. >> rose: that's certainly true of the founders. the gates have already committed to giving 95% of their wealth away; warren buffett, 99%. they say that kind of extreme giving is needed because the rich have been getting so much richer. tech innovations and rising global markets have produced vast fortunes not seen since the industrial revolution. so what does warren buffett say to convince today's billionaires to give their fortunes away? >> buffett: incremental wealth, adding to the wealth they have now, has no real utility to

them. but that wealth has incredible utility to other people. it can educate children, it can vaccinate children. it can do all kinds of things. >> rose: there are others, and people that i know, say, "i want to give it to my children. that's what i want to do." what's wrong with that? >> buffett: i don't really think that, as a society, we want to confer blessings on generation after generation who contribute nothing to society, simply because somebody in the far distant past happened to amass a great sum of wealth. >> rose: so far, 115 billionaires have bought buffett's argument and signed the giving pledge. ages range from 27 to 98. some inherited wealth, but most are self-made. their businesses range from technology and social media to pizza, hair care, and home improvement. combined pledges so far? over a half a trillion dollars. what conditions are there? i mean, can they say, "yes, i'm with you.

i'm here. but i want to give it to this institution or that institution." >> buffett: we don't care what institution they give it to. >> bill gates: yeah, in fact, we're not endorsing any flavor of philanthropy. we do think we're all going to be smarter and do it better learning from each other. but there is no pooling of money. we celebrate the diversity of philanthropy. >> rose: billionaires can be shy when it comes to talking about their money. but warren buffett helped convince seven who have signed the pledge to sit down with "60 minutes." they are investors pete peterson and nicolas berggruen, south african mining tycoon patrice motsepe and his wife, dr. precious moloi-motsepe, entrepreneur sara blakely, and a.o.l. founder steve case, and his wife jean. when did you first hear of the giving pledge? >> jean case: melinda called and talked to us. but we had the benefit of knowing bill and melinda for a long time, going back to our technology roots. >> steve case: we competed against them for many years. >> jean case: we did. >> steve case: and we're happy to finally join forces. >> rose: you wanted to be on their side.

>> steve case: yeah, yeah, we wanted to be on the... aligned. >> rose: they've all signed the same pledge, and they bring the same brashness to their philanthropic ambition that helped them build financial empires. >> pete peterson: charlie, this is a group made up largely of entrepreneurs. and they didn't make a billion dollars or $5 billion by doing the ordinary; they did it by being bold. >> rose: that's certainly true for sara blakely. >> sara blakely: well, i made all the money by making other people's butts look a lot better. >> rose: i think you've missed me. in 2000, she took $5,000 in savings and started the undergarment company spanx. now, she wants her philanthropy to be as cutting edge as her billion-dollar business. >> blakely: i started my business with an invented product that didn't exist and shook up an industry. and i want to collaborate with people and increase my chances of coming up with an idea or something that will do that for my cause, which is helping

women. >> rose: at 42, blakely admits she's just beginning to figure out how she'll help women. at 83, warren buffett says he wants to stick with what he's good at-- running his company, berkshire hathaway-- so he's given the bulk of his fortune to the bill and melinda gates foundation so it can be used to reduce global poverty and disease. as for the other pledgers, they're tackling an impressive array of causes-- unemployment in south africa, early detection and treatment of brain cancer-- and some interests that take on a more political tone: tax reform in california and the national debt. but as bill gates discovered when he left microsoft, going from making money to giving it away isn't always easy. an example of just one of the lessons he's learned-- it doesn't matter how effective a vaccine is; if you don't package and deliver it the right way, it will not do any good. i guess there's a learning process, too.

>> melinda gates: absolutely. >> rose: because you feel like, "how do you do this even if you're inclined to do it?" >> bill gates: it's almost disconcerting to switch to an area where you're back at square zero a little bit. and the measurements aren't quite the same as in the business game. what you're trying to do-- the need to take risk, try different things, and so you need encouragement. >> rose: that's why buffett and the gates invite pledgers once a year to exclusive resorts like kiawah island in south carolina. here, billionaires attend sessions on how to give money away more effectively. our cameras were not allowed in, but we were shown this day's agenda-- it included lessons on how tools like technology can be used to transform failing schools and, with the government cutting funding on medical research, how can philanthropists step in and help spur new medical breakthroughs. but we wondered, what else goes on behind closed doors?

will there be a conversation here about failure? >> buffett: sure. >> jean case: yes, there most definitely will be. >> rose: what does that... how do you phrase that? >> buffett: well, if you bat a thousand, you're playing in the little leagues. i mean, the... and the problems are major league. >> steve case: the difference in the entrepreneurial world, when you launch a company, you have a particular idea, a particular product, a particular service-- almost always you pivot, you shift. you... the market reacts to your initial idea. you make some adjustments. it's only after making a few adjustments that you see the success. we need that same mentality in philanthropy-- trying things, taking risks, recognizing the first try, maybe the second try, maybe the third try won't work. but if you stay at it and you're learning, you're talking to others, and you're learning together, eventually, you'll break through and see the kind of impact you were hoping for. >> rose: jeffrey skoll, one of the first to sign the giving pledge, is using the billions he made as ebay's first president to fight what he calls global threats-- not just one, but five problems he's convinced pose immediate danger to humanity: climate change, water security,

pandemics, nuclear proliferation, and the middle east conflict. i mean, is there some argument to make sometimes that... that because people made a lot of money, they may come to these problems with a certain arrogance, like, "i know everything there is to know. i'm so... smart guy. let me tell you what to do." >> jeffrey skoll: i think we all have a danger... >> rose: arrogance... >> skoll: ...of feeling like we know the answers. and the reality is we don't. >> rose: but that doesn't keep skoll from trying. in addition to his more traditional charitable giving, in 2004, he started the for- profit media company participant, to make movies that promote his philanthropic goals. and the purpose of the movies is what? awareness is one. >> skoll: to create entertainment that inspires and compels social change. and so whether that is climate change or dolphin hunting in japan or dealing with drug sentencing laws, every film we

do has a purpose and it has a social action campaign associated with the movie. and we try to get people involved in the issues of the movie, to try to make a difference in those issues. >> rose: but the problem with all of this may be that it shows how quickly charity can cross over into advocacy. take the 2011 movie "contagion." skoll took what he'd learned through his charitable work in pandemics and funded a movie to warn people that a virus could kill billions. >> on day one, there were two people, and then four, and then 16. in three months, it's a billion. that's where we're headed. >> rose: and what did the movie accomplish for you? >> skoll: in many ways, it put pandemics back on the map, that the public realized how important our public health organizations are, for example. a number of politicians that had seen the movie who were ready to vote on cuts to funding to the cdc recognized that that would

be a bad idea. >> randall lane: the public has a right to know who owns the world. >> rose: randall lane, the editor of the business magazine "forbes," says billionaires like skoll have become so influential, he's devoting the next issue to philanthropy. >> lane: government is showing, you know, over the past couple decades that it can no longer solve the great problems of the day. now, these philanthropists who have incredible wealth, the problem-solving brainpower, and also the name and the influence to be able to open doors, are uniquely qualified right now to solve the huge problems. >> rose: but that does raise the question, do these billionaires have too much power? there's some people who say big philanthropy is not such a good idea, meaning that, somehow, you have enormous power and you're not elected, and that that may not be such a good idea to have people with enormous wealth to have so much influence.

>> buffett: well, would they prefer dynastic wealth, pass it on? or would they prefer, you know, obscenely high living? there's a couple other ways to get rid of money, but i... i think it's better if you're helping other people, using a good bit of it for helping other people. >> rose: okay, so there's no instance in which somebody could say, "look, i mean, we got too many people of huge wealth who are having too much influence." >> jean case: well, charlie, think about bill and polio, for instance-- bill and melinda's work in polio. i mean, they're coming close to eradicating polio on the face of the earth. i think when we have a couple of examples like that, people will see, that's not power being used for personal purposes; that's really leveraging everything you have to change the world to make it better. >> rose: but as warren buffett is finding out, not every billionaire feels that way. >> buffett: i've gotten a lot of yeses when i've called people, but i've gotten a lot of nos, too. because i've been calling people with a billion dollars or more, i've been tempted to think that if they can't sign up for 50%, maybe i should write a book on how to get by on $500 million... ( laughter )

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>> simon: ever heard of a town built on a garbage dump? we hadn't until earlier this year when we visited a community on the outskirts of asuncion, the capital of the tiny, impoverished south american country of paraguay. it's called cateura and there is trash everywhere-- in its streets, its rivers, in people's backyards.

but we decided to take you to cateura tonight not because of the poverty or the filth, but because of the incredible imagination and ingenuity of the people who live there. our story is also a reminder that, ultimately, music will triumph everywhere and anywhere. garbage is the only crop in cateura. and the harvest lasts 12 months a year. it is cateura's curse, its livelihood, and the only reason people live here-- it provides hundreds of jobs to peasant farmers who were kicked off their plots by large landowners. they are the trash pickers. it is their profession. they sift through the stench 24 hours a day, scrounging for anything they can sell.

ten cents for a pound of plastic, five cents for a pound of cardboard. you'll be amazed at what else people here are doing with this trash. just look and listen. ♪ ♪ this is the recycled orchestra of cateura. the violins are fashioned from oven trays, the cellos from oil barrels. even the strings are recycled. the saxophones and trumpets are made from old drain pipes. the keys were once coins and bottle caps. this drum skin used to be an x- ray plate. the guitar from dessert tins. the idea came from environmental technician favio chavez.

when he came to cateura and saw the kids working and playing on this miserable hill, he came up with the idea of starting a music school to lift the kids' lives out of the trash. from the start, favio realized that even if he could raise the money, new instruments were out of the question. a factory-made violin would cost more than a house here, and would almost certainly get stolen. but these fiddles aren't worth a dime. they are the handiwork of trash worker and carpenter don colá gomez. three days a week, he goes to the dump to find the raw materials. then, in his tiny workshop at the edge of the dump, he goes to work. favio first asked him to make a violin. but this stradivarius of south america had never seen one or heard one. but do you realize how unusual it is? >> don colá gomez( translated ): yes, that's the way it is.

when you need something, you need to do whatever it takes to survive. >> simon: he was soon making three violins a week. then cellos, and finally guitars, drums, and double basses, all out of trash. ♪ ♪ take a look and listen to what colá has created. ♪ ♪ 15-year-old ada rios has been playing for three years now. today, she is the orchestra's first violinist. the first time you went and saw the orchestra, you saw all these instruments with all these different colors. were you surprised when you learned that they were made from trash? >> ada rios ( translated ): yes. i was very surprised because i had thought that trash was useless. but thanks to the orchestra, i now realize that there are so many different things that can be done with the stuff.

>> simon: cateura didn't exist before paraguay's capital asuncion started dumping its trash here. the town grew up around the garbage and became one of the poorest places in south america. 2,500 families live here now. there is hardly any electricity or plumbing. the drinking water is contaminated. many of the children move from broken homes to crime and drugs. but ada and her younger sister noelia, who plays the cello, say that music has become their salvation, the centerpiece of their lives. and who do they have to thank for that? their grandmother mirian. she is a garbage worker- collects bottles in the streets of asuncion, carries them back to cateura to sell. ten cents a pound. three years ago, mirian saw a notice advertising free music lessons for children. that's how it all began. why did you want them to learn

music? >> mirian rios ( translated ): because i always wanted to be a musician or play an instrument. actually, i wanted to be a singer. sometimes, our dreams do come true-- maybe not in our lives, but through people that we love very much. >> ada rios ( translated ): when i play the violin, i feel like i am somewhere else. i imagine that i'm alone in my own world and forget about everything else around me, and i feel transported to a beautiful place. >> simon: can you describe that beautiful place? >> ada rios: yes. i'm transported to a place that is completely different to where i am now. it has clear skies, open fields, and i see lots of green. it's clean with no trash. there is no contamination where we live. it's just me alone playing my violin.

>> simon: every saturday, this drab schoolyard is transformed into a multi-colored oasis of music. the kids flock here to learn and to play. ♪ ♪ cateura is a long way from julliard, but these music students are just as dedicated as those prodigies in new york. ♪ ♪ and they don't get rained on like the kids here. paraguay is in the tropics, and you are reminded of that all the time. but the band plays on. the veterans-- 15-year-olds-- are teaching the novices. many are barely big enough to hold a violin.

the music can't compete with the downpour, but there is refuge in a classroom. favio chavez says that music teaches the kids respect and responsibility, not common commodities in the gang-ridden streets of cateura. >> favio chavez ( translated ): these values are completely different to those of gangs. if these kids love being part of the orchestra, they are absolutely going to hate being part of a gang. ♪ ♪ >> simon: for the first time, the children are getting out of cateura, performing around the country. and to chavez, the pied piper of paraguay, that's the most important thing-- they are being

seen, they are being heard. >> chavez: these are children that were hidden. nobody even knew they existed. we have put them on a stage, and now everybody looks at them and everybody knows they exist. >> simon: that's mainly because of a documentary that's being made about the orchestra called "landfill harmonic." last november, the producers put their trailer up on youtube. it went viral. the orchestra began getting bookings worldwide. it is such stuff as dreams are made on. ( cheers and applause ) the film, which follows their remarkable journey through concert halls in europe and america, will only be released next year, but already, instruments are being donated. and that's not all-- the kids are getting help. ♪ ♪

paraguay's most famous musician, berta rojas, flies down regularly from her home in maryland to offer master classes. remember noelia, ada's sister, the cellist? berta is teaching her how to play the guitar. >> berta rojas: this is an... a story that is filling my heart and my soul with... with so much inspiration. >> simon: when you first heard them play, what went through your mind? >> rojas: i couldn't believe that you could make music with trash. i couldn't believe it. and i thought, "oh, my god, this is the best thing that had happened in paraguay in so many years." >> simon: and when you talk to the parents, you hear what you hear from poor people everywhere. they want their kids to have a better life than they've had.

jorge rios is ada and noelia's father. if she becomes a professional musician, she'd probably be leaving town. how would you react to that? >> jorge rios ( translated ): yes, the truth is, if you asked that question to every parent here, they would say they would leave this place if they could. i, of course, would like her to have a better life than the one i've had. and if she leaves, i hope she takes me with her! >> simon: what's hard to believe is that most of the parents and the people of cateura had never heard the children play. that was about to change. a concert was finally scheduled. there were banners in the streets, the local radio station was ready to broadcast. the church was transformed into a concert hall. the children wore their finest.

this was, after all, opening night. ( applause ) it could have been new york. ( playing "new york, new york" ) all the students were on stage for the finale. some of the musicians were performing after just one rehearsal. the parents were proud, of course. but just listen to the girls' grandma, mirian. >> mirian rios ( translated ): i would say it's a blessing from god. people used to humiliate us and call us "trash pickers." today, they are more civilized. they call us the "recyclers." so i feel that this is a reward from god-- that our children, who come from this place, can play beautiful music in this way. ♪ ♪

>> simon: and here's a final note from the recycled orchestra of cateura. go on, send us your garbage. we'll send it back to you as music. ( musical flourish ) ( cheers and applause ) >> go to 60minutesovertime.com to see what happens when the kids in the recycled orchestra get gifts they never imagined. ja are pl things i prefer to do on my own. but when it comes to investing, i just think it's better to work with someone. someone you feel you can really partner with. unfortunately, i've found that some brokerage firms

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>> stahl: now, an update on a story we called "cosmic roulette," about the threat asteroids pose to the earth. last february, a small asteroid, a meteor, crashed into the atmosphere and exploded near the russian city of chelyabinsk. the shock wave shattered windows and damaged buildings. scientists from the jet propulsion laboratory told anderson cooper similar space rocks collide with the earth about once every 100 years. and former astronaut ed lu warned that rare larger asteroids have the potential to wipe out entire continents. >> ed lu: at some point, you know, the solar system's going to get you. >> stahl: the solar system may get you sooner than anyone

thought, even if it doesn't wipe out an entire continent. a new study published this month by the journal "nature" finds asteroid incidents like the one in russia are up to five times more likely than astronomers previously believed. when a meteor streaks across the sky, like this one over los angeles on november 6, don't forget to duck. i'm lesley stahl. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." captioning funded by cbs and ford captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org hurt you. know, can what if you didn't know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars? [woman] off to hawaii! what if you didn't know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry? [prospector] ahh! what if you didn't know that kitty litter can help you out of a slippery situation? the more you know, the better you can plan for what's ahead. talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. ♪ we are farmers bum - pa - dum, bum - bum - bum - bum♪

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