♪ >> this week on global 3000 wee head to o rwanda, a laland withs of cell-phonones and little electricity. but there are climate-friendly chargiging stations. in the u.s, we meet a young environmental activist with near pop-star status. but first we go to afghanistan where a tv talent show is causing a commotion. it's one step too far for many conservative afghans. ♪ >> afghanistan is one of the world's poorest countries. its population has been living with conflict for decades.

in 2016 alone, 11,500 civilians were killed or injured. the country remains dependent on economic aid. since 2001, more than 500 bbillion u.s. dollars have been poured into the country. another key problem is education. only around 30% of the adult population can read and write. that's one of the lowest literacy rates worldwide. women are particularly disadvantaged. many are married off as young girls and never have the opportunity to go to school or work. tradition and islam govern everyday life. but there are small opportunities to escape. ♪ correspondent: it's the final of afghanistan's popular talent show afghan star.

throughout the country, fans are cheering on their favorites. who will be this year's winner? the remaining candidates are two outsiders, sayed a b barber. he won the heartrts of viewers d the jury with some bold rap lyrics. and then therere's 18-year-old zulala, who until rerecently h in the end the sayed takes home never sthe title. an audience. >> the way he was rapping was all the problems of the society. so he was talking the language of every afghan that's living in this country. so that's why he camup.. correspondenent: sayed's g grd prizize was a mopeped and a st vacation to kazakhstan, an opportunity to leave afghanistan for a week. he comes from the northern city of mazarisharif. that's where taliban fighters recently killed dozens in an attack on an army base. the disastrous security situation is one of many

problems that sayed rapped about. >> despite the problems,s, i dot want to leave afghanistan for good. my f fans are here and i h haa mission here. i want to express the pain of my compatriots in my lyrics. >> i'm angry because the government doesn't do anything for the little people. instead of taking care of the poor, those at the top are fighting for power. whoever pays the most can be a minister as the country goes to ruin. correspondent: sayed is delighted with his victory, even though he says zulala deserved the honors. >> she has such a great personality and she comes from a dangerous region. her courage alone was enough to deserve the victory. ♪ correspondent: never before has a woman made it so far on the talent show.

but a young woman who sings and does it in public is a major provocation for many afghans. the show's producer is also well aware of such attitudes. he lives dangerously. last year the taliban attacked his television station, killing seven employees. he says zulala faces a serious threat. >> if i say right now no there's no risk for r her i'd be lyin, because going back to jalalabad, if you go to the city of jalalabad, you don't see many women. so being a singer performing on a big stage like afghan star is not out of danger. correspondent: jalalabad, in the east of the country, is considered a fundamentalist stronghold. zulala returned to her home here after the final and quickly went into hiding. she lives with her mother, a

widow who encouraged her to take part in the show. but now she refuses all contact with the media. talking to locals it's easy to , understand why. >> when a woman perfrforms in pupublic like e zulala, everye will hate her. and allah will punish her. >> the whole show is immoral and should be forbidden. it shows the wrong image of a woman and seduces people. correspondent: this is where zulala normally lives with her mother. but since the final at the end of march, she hasn't been seen. it's said that they went to friends in the countryside and wanted to wait there until the discontent subsided. even her own relatives turned against her. a cousin appears and gives his opinion. >> if she continues to sing, we'll hahave a familily meetind forbid it. that's clear.

correspondent: he's not impressed by the fact that his cousin has a lot of fans across the country. o on the contrar. >> her performance brought shame on our family. a woman belongs in the home, nowhere else. in the home or the grave. correspondent: zulala may have no choice but to follow the lead of rapper sayed who moved to the capital kabul. that's where she spent perhaps the best moments of her life, when sayed handed his trhy to her, the second-place finisher. it was a symbol of suppressed women's rights. and d half theountntry was movd to tears. >> the couourage she had, the bravery she hahad, she was r ry deserving that prize.

so i think when mubarez gave her the prize, i was so proud of hihim. ♪ correspondent: a moment like in a fairy tale. but so far without a happy ending. >> in 2016, human beings pumped more than 36 billion tons of co2 into the air. despite all the warnings. if this continues, forecasters edict thatat by the year 2 210, the average temperature on earth will have risen by up to 6 degrees. with dramatic resultlts, meltig glaciers and p polar icece capd rising s l levels wiwill cause isnds and d low-lyining areas o sink under water. the warming will cause more water to evaporate, leading to heavy rains and storms. in those regions that are already dry, the deserts will become even bigger, like the sahel.

millions of people will be forced to leave uninhabitable areas. it's a horror scenario, and it is becoming reality for many across africa. correspondent: this could be a preview of the effects of climate change. here on the coast of ghana, sand is engulfing the village of totope. chief theophilus agbakla was born here. he says it all began about thirty years ago. the sea started coming closer , bringing with it lots of sand. as a child he often helped his , grandfather at his corn mill at this spot. the remains of the roof are still visible. >> it's now buried by the sea. now when you put a corn mill here it would rust very fast. back then there was no effect. but when it started coming.

you had to move the whole thing away. otherwise you lose it. you lose the property. correspondent: the residents of totope put rocks on the roofs of the houses that are still inhabitable. the nails that used to fasten the corrugated sheet metal are corroded. chief agbakla shows us where the people live. now they have to crouch down to enter the homes. despite the changes, nearly 3000 people still live here. >> the people of totope are predominantly fishermen. now when you send them there, that means you must find an alternative livelihood for them. that would be maybe farming. correspondent: but the agricultural land belongs to others. so the fishermen of totope persevere, even though they can barely live from their work. the sea is dangerous. and the residents say fishsh stocks off ghana's coast are badly depleted. life is becoming increasingly difficult.

>> sometimes the water comes into our houses at night. then we have to stand up, take our babies and children in our arms and hold d them tight. often ununtil dawn. sometimes the water even carries our food away. correspondent: the beach at totope is full of trash from far and wide that have washed up on the shore. each day the garbage continues to pile up. chief agbakla rarely takes a walk on the beach of his home village, because it makes him too sad. >> when you see rubbish like this coming from the sea, what

it means is that diseases. it will befall the half of the people. they have wishes already, but because of the situation under which they are living, you have seaweed, you have plastics, all coming from the sea. correspondent: chief agbakla is angry at the government. during the last election campaign a lot of politicians , came here promising change. but nothing has happened. barriers have been built to protect other villages along the coast, but not in totope. three decades ago things looked very different. >> before you see the sea, you have to climb a coconut tree, a very tall one, becausese the sa was about one and a half kilometers away. and you know when the men are going to fishing, the women are going to carry the fish from

their home. correspondent: the rainy season finally gives local people a chance to get some fresh water. the encroaching sea means the groundwater is full of salt. the residents collect every drop of rain they can. it's a valuable resource. totope in ghana, a sobering example of how vulnerable coastal communities are to climate change. ♪ >> and now we leave ghana to head across the atlantic to north america. the u.s is one of the world's top oil-producing countries. much of it extracted using the highly-controversial fracking technique. this involves using a drill to bore into deep layers of oil and gas-carrying rock. the boring is done vertically and then horizontally, to exploit as many deposits as possible. the rock is loosened and then a mix of waterer and chemicals ae

injected into o it under high pressure. the gas or oil is released and pumped up to the surface together with the e poisonous fracking fluid. it's a technique that has many opponents in the u.s. the foothills of the rocky mountains are home to huge rereserves of oil and natural g. the fracking industry is booming. and that's why colorado is now on the frontline when it comes to protests against the environmental policies of president trump. >> the earth is our mother, we'll never have another correspondent: the leader of this demonstration is still a teenager but xiuhtezcatl martinez is already a star in the american environmental protest movement, which has seen its numbers swell since donald trump came to office. >> to fight for the things we believe in. i think this is a great demonstration of people power, of what the rest of the 4 years are gonna look like with trump

in office. people aren't going to stand for the oppression of our government anymore. correspondent: today xiuhtezcatl is leading a march against fracking, a controversial practice that trump wants to see ramped up. outside the capitol building in denver, xiuhtezcatl has a message for the state's politicians. >> they are failing to do their job. they are not protecting people's safety and health. they are allowing fracking companies to go into people's backyards and schools, near hospitals and drill and extract this fossil fuel in a way that is harming the people of colorado. we are here to say no more. correspondent: you could say xiuhtezcatl has activism in his blood. a quarter century ago his mother tamara founded the activist movement earth guardians. her son is now a poster child for the group. xiuhtezcatl's father is descended from the aztecs. that's where his name comes from. the teenager's roots have contributed to his views on life.

>> well i think because he was raised in these traditions and very connected with the earth, he all the time was in nature and just like i don't know as a little boy remembering him walking through the woods and you could feel he was really connecting in this deep way. and then i think just being aware in our household, how we live our life and our conversations as a family about taking care of the earth and just that combination. and correspondent: and that combination has already taken xiuhtezcatl a long way. he became one the youngegest people ever to deleliver a speh at the united nations, which he has now addressesed several tit. his very first public appearance as an activivist was at the agef six. >> i just said a prayer in my nativeanguage.e. m too younung to vote, butut im making this fifilm because i wanted to try help make a difference. correspondndent: before long, xiuhtezcatl was touring the country to promote his cause. and he developed his own way of getting the message across. rap. but xiuhtezcatl's campaign is

not just limited to music and protests. he's also taken legal action. he sued the u.s government for violating his constitutional right to life and freedom by not taking sufficient action against climate change. 21 other young people joined the lawsuit. this is the scene before a hearing at the appeals court. but with cameras not allowed into the courtroom, we have to stay outside for more than an hourur. but evenentually xiuhtel emerges, and gives us his immediate impression. >> what the judges care about isn't the stories of the kids being impacted, it's not the human element, it's not these they're not faces, the people , being impacted by these issues that the stakeholders in this , problem for them it's legal documents, it's testimonies. correspondent: xiuhtezcatl then takes us on a tour to show us some of the risks associated with fracking. ththe process involves drillig down into the earth before a high-pressure water mix is

directed at the rock to release the gas. colorado currently has around 55,000 fracking wells including one here in the middle of a residential area and right by a children's playground. >> the health impacts from this thing aren't only if it ignites or if it combusts, whereas any house within a distance of this place of a couple of miles is already being impacted because of all the chemicals that are coming off of it that are entering the air. so any child playing on this playground is breathing this in, us standing right here every breath that we take is filled with volatile organic, cancer-causing, endocrine-disrupting chemicals that are entering our system. correspondent: xiuhtezcatl's friend and mentor shane tells us about the sign outside. >> it's just a fancy name for toxic industrial liquid waste. so they change the language so that it looks and sounds ok. a truck comes by, they open the gate and they suck out that toxic water and then they inject it underground somewhere else.

correspondent: a scientific consensus has yet to be found on the dangers of fracking. there are huge lobbies both for and against, and opinions have become entrenched. but the activists have scored some victories. fracking is now banned in five communities in colororado aftr xiuhtezcatl managed to convince local citizens and authorities of its dangers. >> what makes xiutezcatl a good warrior? truth and absolute resolution, and him knowing that he's fighting for a purpose higher than himself. he's fighting for all the footprints of his ancestors and the people of tomorrow. correspondent: right now, the generation of tomorrow waiting on the other side of this curtain. he and his sister isa are making a guest appearance at a workshop for young people. their rap calls on people to join the fight against environmental pollution. ♪

correspondent: their performance is the highlight of the event and their message has clearly been heard. >> even though i'm young i can still make a difference in the world like we are the future and we're positive, even though we're young and we can stand up for what's right. >> i think it's really cool that he's actually out there doing something about what he believes in. and i just think that's really cool. correspondent: xiuhtezcatl is happy to do an encore. and of course they all want to hear the anti-fracking rap. ♪ >> and staying with people dedicated to conserving our natural world, it's time for our global ideas series. in africa, electricity supply is frequently a problem. in rural areas in particular, there's often no access to power.r. but manyny people own n mobile telephones which need regular charging. in east african rwanda, our reporter dan hirschfeld came

across a simple but ingenious idea which is creating jobs and protectiti our climate. claudidine kamikazi has a precis commodity that's i in high dana. she runsns a mobile sosolar kiot the e central bus s station ine rwandan n capital, kigigali. correspondent: many of the phone users alighting here have been on the road and off-liline for ururs. claudine's kiosk enables them to charge up their phones or surf the net, c courtesy of solar powewer. >> business is good, i chose this because it's someththing n. the fact that they alwayays coe to m me shows i mamade a god choice. correspondent: the mobile solar kiosk is the brainchild of this man, henri nyakarundi. the idea was an obvious solution to the situation on the ground, he says. 70% of rwanda's 11 and half a million inhabitants have a

mobile phohone. but only 22% have electricity. >> people spend a whole day here. there's no plug, if you lolook around, there is no plug for people to charge. so it's a convenient way for people waiting for the bus to charge their phone, pay a small fee and go on their busisines. or whether we e are in a r rul area the c conveniencetay y te same. people don't have time to carry their charger with them, to go to a stotore and asksk somebodyw they can do that. correspopondent: it's been 4 yes since nyakarundiuiuilt the very first mobile s solar kiosk w h the e assistancece of a german company. there are now 40 spread across rwanda eaeach one managed by independent operators like claudinene. a portion of their earnings goes to the inventor. for him, what began as a simple idea has evolved into far more than just a business model. >> the social impact it's very key to our business.

that's what we focus on. so we're mostly looking for women, or people with a disability that don't have any job, no other opportunity but want to work. and it also brings a certain, i wouldnt say pride, but self-esteem. correspondent: demand is substantial in rwanda, both for new jobs, and for accessss to electricity and the internet, which is why henri nyakarundi sees huge market potential. by the end of this year he plans to expand his pool of kiosks from 40 to between 600 and 800. he also wantnts to take his invaluluable experience from rwanda andnd introduce the successfulul microraranchising model to neighboring u uganda, where the majority of the kiosk componenents are made. >> it's not just creating g jos thouough micro-e-entrepreneurs.

it's building thisis ecosystem thatill supppport themem throuh thatatusiness. so we transporort the kiosk k te location for t them, which i is including all the fees. we give them support on the uniform ththey wear, they haven app where they sell services. cocoespondent:t: the mugoma a am kigali. most people here get around on fofo, whether to go shoppipin, pick up water, or r to reach te nearest generator or electric socket. emannuel gakindi set up business with a solar kiosk three years ago. itit's the origiginal editn,n,h no internet access. but people still come flocking whwherever he shows up. >> now i a also have a p pad assistant. and i can cover all my expenses from the phone-charging business. correspondent: he's even added a second kiosk. he would also like to provide internet access to his customers, which wouould requie one of the new kiosks. henri nyakarundi is introducing

the next generation at the smart africa conference at the kigali convention center. it brings together politicians with entrepreneurs, donors and ininvestors, to o discuss techl solutions for the continent and its peoplele. henri nyakarundi is happy to see so much interest in his innovation. >> our goal for r the next ten years is 20 0 countrieies in af. we've already selected thehe countries. we estimated 50 to a 100,000 kiosks in alall those countrie. that's about 50 to 10000,000 micro-businesses we'llll be creating. correspondent: a mobobile solr kiosk currrrently costs momoren two thousandnd dollars. henri plans to m maximize ththe number of coonentsts made in africa lowering the price, and , creating even more jobs. claudine, the kiosk operator from the bus station, has finished work k for the daday. now shshe's helping her chilen

finish their homework. she can more or less determine her own working hours, a and hw much commission she earns from e sale of f phone credits and electricity. >> i can't afford to stay at home with my kids. i need to have an income. and the job helps me to make ends meet. it's made things a lot easier. correspondndent: she eararns ad $100 a monthth from the kiosk, whicich in rwanda amounts to double the average incncome. ♪ >> t that's all for today. but remember we love hearing from you. visit us on facebook at dw global society or send us a mail to global3000@dw.com.

see you next time.

(lively music) - the upper west african ebola epidemic has ended. the foreign nurses and doctors have left, the temporary treatment centers have been packed away.