>> hello and welcome to brussels. welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw studios. let's look at what isoming up inhe next half-hour. deciding to be different -- the men and women of albania. from coal to crime -- miners in romania is valley of tears. first up, the eternal topic of

men and women. all over the world, you are affected by how your society defines gender roles. in europe, it must be confusing to be a man -- you are eecte to provide for your family, but women have the exact same rights as you. it has taken europeans a while to get this far, and the situation is still far from perfect. women are less, for example, but in theory, nobody doubts that a woman can run a business or a country. in rural albanians, it is an entirely different story. there it really is a man's world. a woman's only role is to look after her family unless she swears to live as a man officially. then she is accepted by society in a tradition that goes back centuries. >> we are going deep into the alps of northern albania.

visitors are a rare sight in these villages. in this region, archaic traditions still hold sway, such as blood feuds and a person of holding family honor. there are women here who decades ago when they were young made a desion for life, who chose to face this while the environment as men. they keep to themselves, so we sought out an organization called the albanian reconciliation committee. hopefully, they can help us learn more about this phenomenon. it is early in the morning, and the teachers have just arrived at school. >> we are looking for the sworn virgins who live in the village. where can we find them? we are told two of th still li her >> sworn virgins, also known as

man women, decide not to marry, not to start families, and take on the job of patriotic -- patriarchal head of the klan. in this society, the family is everything, the individual nothing. >> yes, i know what your talking about. they live in very difficult conditions. you miss out on a lot of things if you do not have a family. >> the teacher sends us to this house, saying someone lives alone there. in albania, women can swear an oath before the village elders that they will remain chaste for air and wear men's clothing. they become men-women. she changed her girl's name into a boy's name. our interpreter tells him we would like to talk to him about this custom, but he says he or she is ill.

our impression is that he would rather just avoid the attention. up here in the albanian mountains, the streets are mostly populated by men and a few cows. in this society, many marriages are still a range by the family -- the couple has no choice. if no boys are born to the klan, a girl has to become the patriarch. many people from impoverished northern albanian moved here to seek their fortune. we are trying to contact someone. >> how are you? i did not know the exact place. then she agrees to meet us, but

she says she does not want to be out in the open among all the stairs -- stares. we decide to meet in a cafe at a table in an inconspicuous corner. man-women have lived in albania for centuries. >> i was very young, may be four or five years old when i started acting like a boy. i used to wear boy's clothes everybody noticed. first of all, you have the idea, then you do it. nobody forces you to do it. no obligations. it is only a desire. i liked it this way. i liked to be free -- to be free, to speak freely, to stay

free. >> in northern albania, the only way for her to be free western dress as a man and live alone, which she does to this day. she is now more than 70 years old. but something is changing. in this country of archaic laws, sworn virgins of becoming a topic of conversation. we are given another address. he is 86 and lives today with his great nephew among many children. the younger generation has taken him in. >> i am very happy to have all these generations here. >> see here -- this is my first great, great nephew. >> he also has a daughter.

>> i am happy enough with all this. it is all our own blood, and that is what is important. >> he came here after a life of hard work in the fields of northern albania. for deces, was also the head of the klan. his brother had no sons, but he took over the house and farm. if he had remained a woman, that would not have been allowed, but his brother died more than 10 years ago, leaving him alone. some of spring refused to take in a sworn virgin. male heads of families fear they would lose their power. >> i never had any problems. i never worried what other people said, but it was only possible because i made a clear

decision. >> a clear decision made by at all three. a decision for freedom in unfree societies still dominated by men in 20th-century europe. >> social justice and solidarity are important plars of life in europe, but they are wobbly. in cyprus, protesters took to the streets when they saw the government preparing to raid the bank accounts of small savers to avert state bankruptcy. "that's just not fair," cypriots shouted. but who is there to help those who fall through the gap? spain saw a record number of

evictions. up to 200 per day. at times of crisis, the state cannot help so many people, but gloria will. she is a courageous spanish woman who has turned her house into a shelter for homeless people. >> this upper-middle-class apartment in central madrid has an unusual set of residents -- 10 men and one woman. for 13 years, gloria iglesias has been taking in homeless people in her private home. these men at rock-bottom. each one of them has been hit hard by spain's financial crisis. now, they are eating lunch together and have a roof over their heads again. this is the story of an incredible private initiative.

>> we have all overcome one crucial thing -- isolation. we are gd to be able to share, and i think gloria enjoys seeing that we are happy. >> gloria has invested all her money in the project. she shows us the apartment. the men sleep here. in one room, a dialysis patient receives treatment. she takes in everyone, including drug addicts and alcoholics. gloria is 61 and a former flight attendant. she had a family and two children. then came the divorce and the decision to help other people. her christian faith drives her on. she says it is worth any risks. >> i feel privileged. in 13 years, i have been able to get 160 men off the streets. the project continues.

even in a city of crisis, we can eat properly every day, so i keep going, and i will defend my boys like a lioness. >> that is what keeps project gloria going -- the men and their lioness' have specialized in removals and restoring furniture. private donors have given the minivans and tools. there was a time when the government would provide extra subsidies, but that ended when the crisis arrived. the project has been able to rent a furniture shop on favorable terms. the workshop is on the upper floor. the men restore old chairs and wardrobescquid wh people have to sell off their belongings or businesses go bust, another result of the crisis. gloria has noticed something

else in the past few years -- the face of homelessness in spain has changed dramatically. >> my boys used to come in off the streets. now professional men like doctors come to me. they have lost their jobs in their homes and have nothing. >> joaquin is one example. a year ago, he was sleeping in this passageway covered with cardboard boxes. more and more spaniards now suffer the same plight. in four years, homelessness has risen by 20%. >> you have to be very strong not to get sucked into drugs and crime. life on the streets brings out the worst in all of us. >> he had the good fortune to be taken in by gloria. the 63-year-old used to be an engineer. then he lost hi job and later his wife and home. his two children did not know

for a long time that their father was out on the streets. he had broken off all contact. >> i was like an autistic child. now, i am the complete opposite. i love being able to do some things -- sometimes more, sometimes less. i just live every day. >> this is an upper class district in madrid, a place for the rich and beautiful people. it is also where project gloria has been given another shot to use to sell expensive antiques. all the furniture has been donated. the project lives off the generosity and helpfulness of many others -- for example, the grocers who give gloria extra food almost every day. >> this project gives me a special sort of satisfaction. right now, i can help 10 boys

and get them off thetreets. when the bell tolls for us all, i can say i did what i could. i have used the talent that was given to me. >> the crisis has also produced stories like this one of moral strength and incredible solidarity. >> when an error comes to an end, you have to create something new -- when and era comes to an end. that has proven true for many countries where coal mining is dying out. germany's rural area has tried to reinvent itself as a top location for innovative technologies and culture, and it is more or less getting by, but for the people in this valley in romania, the prospect is still a long way off. proud former minor's cannot even

afford to buy the cold that they themselves used to dig out of the crown -- proud former miners. >> he has been caught stealing coal again. >> what do you have here? one, two, three -- 10 sacks, all of it cole. you stole it? >> i need it for heating. my children are freezing. >> we are in the valley in romania. people here call it the valley of tears. about 100 families lived in this district, all in poverty and without jobs. their only hope and their only income are tied to the nearby stretch of railway. every day, fully loaded trains roll by. andre lives here with his family in a single room.

>> look, we fill sax like this with coal. one is enough to heat for a day. sometimes we sell a bit. i havto admit, we live from stealing. >> his brother-in-law is in prison for stealing voal. the poor cannot afford would, so they risked everything for a few sacks of coal. some of them even go into dangerous, shut down mines. the police are in action around the clock. the freight yard is where they apprehend the most beeves. they recently seized 120 tons of stolen goods in a single day, but even that is just a drop in the ocean. >> there's no way we can stop thieves.

the mining company should watch over the trains. this should not be our job. >> the state mining companies have enough to worry about with their own employees. three years ago, the police were investigating one company for stealing coal on a massive scale -- two million tons of the black stuff disappeared from the mines. but the investigation led nowhere and was suspended without investigation. people have been mining coal for a long time here. 150 years ago, - came here from poland, bohemia, and germany. the mines reached their heyday under the communist dictatorship when more than 200,000 miners work here and even the dictator feared them. miners were the only people who dared to protest against him. today, nothing is left of that pride and confidence.

when romania joined the european union six years ago, the miners hoped they could continue to work. back then, we talked with this shift supervisor. >> these mines should not be shut down. we need this worke, even though there are many accidents. i knowhat the eu is not waiting for us with open arms, but i'm sure things will get better. >> mining is now being gradually phased out. pedro is bitterly disappointed. >> our politicians in the e you showed no interest in rescuing this region -- our politicians in the eu. now there is no future here for our children. i spent 20 years of my life in

the mind, a today i have nothg. >> pedro keeps his head above water with occasional jobs and a 200-euro pension. what little money flows into the valley comes from european union programs. romania could receive much more support, but it is -- it submits the fewest applications of any member country. many young people are moving away from the valley. those who remain often turn to a life of petty crime. the police are out in force today, probably because our television cameras are here. andre is nervous. will he be able to steal any cold today? >> i keep my horse cart ready. as soon as the police are gone, we have to make our move or we will freeze. i still have a horse i inherited from my parents.

>> in five years at the latest, all the mines in the region will have to close. that is when the eu winds down its last subsidies. now, facing trial on charges of theft for stealing coal. >> does not matter what they do to me. i will have to keep stealing. >> discontent is growing in the valley of tears, but in romania's capital, bucharest, no one hears the calls for help from romania's most troubled region. >> i wish i were a chicken -- it may be hard to believe, but a song by that name really did make it to the top of the german charts. the lyrics are all about how much fun the chicken's light must be. -- a chicken's life must be.

you can spend all day lazing in the grass. reality paints a different picture. laying hens are usually cramped in different cages. one british woman wants conditions to change. she has founded the british and welfare trust -- british hen welfare trust. >> this is how it heidi -- this is heidi. the family has 20 hens and three roosters. other 14-year-old girls wish for a dog or a hamster, but just wanted chickens. >> they are completely different. they are really sweet. >> heard chickens come from the british and welfare trust, a

charitable organization which regularly picks up older battery hens. we cannot go along as no egg producers are willing to let us take chickens -- take pictures of their chickens. battery cages like these meet eu regulations. there is a perch, a nest, and space to scratch. the hspend 18 months in these cages without ever seeing the sun or grass, and they are called then turned into soup or animal feed unless they are rescued. the organization's founder greets the freed birds personally. as 18, jane saw a report on laying hens and could not forget it. she went to a battery form and offered to take hands that were not playing enough eggs. when her garden but too small, e found famils to adopt the birds.

in the cages, the hens have plucked out one another as the others, and for the first time in their lives, they can really scratch, pat, and take a dust that, yet for each freed, another takes its place in the cage. still, jane says there is one real benefit. >> i'm only actually saying the lives of less than 1% of laying hens in the u.k. the reason we do it is to educate consumers. it is like sending out a fantastical educational pack. they not only become family pets, but the neighbors hear about them, work colleagues, family, friends, and we find that when people have these chickens, they become much more aware and interested in what is in their food. >> 20-some people have registered via telephone, facebook, or twitter to take the hands being distributed today. each pays what they can to help

finance the welfare trust. in less than nine years, it has found homes for over 300,000 battery hens, and for the first time, they can bask in the sun and touch grass. it is a big adventure for them, and in eight weeks' time, their feathers will have grown back. jess thinks her former laying hens are the best. >> i think they come from a different background than any other chicken. they have different views and stuff. >> these hens still lay eggs -- maybe four per week instead of the six battery hens lay. when the family goes on holiday, neighbors care for the chickens and are compensated in eggs. heidi would have been called in 18 months at the farm.

here she could live to be 10 years old. >> the first thing you see is the color. absolutely beautiful every one is different. >> we ask if employees make fun of the fact that their boss keeps chickens as pets. >> i can take it, though. >> that is it for today. before we go, happy easter to all of you who areelebrating. from the "european journal" to you in brussels, thanks for joining. join us next week if you can. until then, auf wiedersehen and bye for now.

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