heads to o one of sumatrtra's t remaining intact stretches of rainforest, to find out how local orangutans are faring in the wild. in iran, we meet a kickboxing champion for whom courage is as esessential as passion. but first we go to the u.s., to meet children of drug-dependent parents. what do they do to cope? the u.s. is in the midst of a major drug epidemic. the foundations for it were laid in the 1990's.

back then, doctors churned out prescriptions for opioid-based painkillers. and pharmaceutical firms pushed products with aggressive marketing strategies. sales of prescription painkillllers quadrupled in the first years of the 21st century -- and at the same time, the drugs got stronger. in 2015, 33,000 people in the u.s. died from overdoses. a year later, 42,000 suffered the same fate. the u.s. government's tactic so far has been to toughen controls on prescriptions -- driving many people with dependencies to turn to street drugs like heroin. it's estimated over two million americans are now opioid addicts. it's a desperate situation -- for the people affected, and their families. reporter: it's a moment 15-year-old athena gregory can enjoy -- when she can focus just on herself.

behind her lies a horrific childhood as the daughter of drug addicts. she bore sole responsibility for herself, her little brother, and her parents. athena: you always have to stick by your parents' side and even when they y are doing what thy aren't supposed to do, you have to help as much as possible, and be as brave as possible. reporter: back then, there was no such thing as cooking a meal together. the family moved constantly. they often lacked basic necessities. at the end, they lived in a motel. athena's parents existed in a drug-fuelled haze -- first pills, then heroin. jesse: you know, i went and i bought heroin and i had athena with me. and i was in the basement of these people's house, , and i a shootingng heroin n in their h, and she was upstairs in their living room watching tv. sarah: and she'd run through the house to try to get rid d of

everytything she would find -- r heroin -- and she would flush it down the toilet, or she would break the needles. and then in the end, we're just getting mad at her, like, why? you know? why would she do that? it was very clear why. she just wanted usus to stop. reporter: the authorities intervened when athena was 11, and she and her brother were to come with me. and we were walking down the stuff. reporter: drug abuse dictates many p people's lives, especiay in poorer areas. one result -- neglected children. orphanages are rare in the u.s. instead, the government relies on foster families to take in children at risk. ngo's seek out suitable foster

families for increasing numbers of children. in this region alone, there are almost three times as many foster kids as there were three years ago. when a child is taken in here, he or she needs comfort, clothing, and a new home. the safe children coalition also has presents on hand, just in case a child is removed on his or her birthday. if no relatives are willing or able to help, brena slater and her team have four hours to find a new family, in accordance with regulations. brena: our entire circuit has been removing an average of 85 children a month. so, we had a day last week where we had ten c children reremoven one night, within two hohours. so, when situauations ke thatt sohappen, wewe're calling fofosr we had ten rerents.en reremoven reporter: but there are not enough foster families to take on this important responsibility. kate dumbaugh is a foster mother.

she took in aidan when he was nine months old, and made sure that his contact with his birth mother never broke off. kate explains how it is when drug-addicted parents suddenly take a sober view of their own lives. kate: to keep that momentum going, day in and d day out, wn you're soberer for maybe the fit timeme in your life, and you'e confronting all sorts of -- it always chokes me up. reporter: a court gave aidan's mother one year to get her life in order after she had overdosed on heroin. katherine: since i had a background of drug usese, and y other two children aren't in my custody because of my drug use, that's it. so, i wasn't going to lose

another child into the system because i wanted to go and use drugs. reporter: katherine has made it. after eight months, she got her child back. but she fears her past might destroy her children's future. katherine: yeah, i'm very scscad of that bebecause it's more liky for an addict's children to become addicts. and, i know that i've struggled with it for a while, and that would absolutely kill me to watch my child go through it. reporter: in maryland, t the gregory y family are picking p their youngest from the school bus stop. for years, big sister athena was the only reliable parent-substitute for anthony, who suffers from autism and epilepsy. his mother even used drugs while she was pregnant with him. now, she is plagued with a guilty conscience. mutter: i'll never know if my actionons had anhing to dodo wh how he turned out, but i can't hehelp but think a about it. and i'll always think about it, thatat he's going to pay for something that i chose to do for

the rest of his life with it. reporter: she's not as worried about athena -- the teen vows to never go near drugs. athena: i just want to prove to people that i don't have a higher risk of that and that i am myself, me and my brother are us, we are not based off of our past. we are the family that we are now. we are nothing like we werere before. reporter: athena knows exactly what she wants -- after high school graduation, she wants to go to beauty school. her dream is to have her ownwn salon. host: fromom the u.s. t the otr sidef the wowod -- i in, a ther even acvities les freedoms apying for passpororricted. travelling require permission from men.

and getting a divorce if you're a woman is extremely difficult. iranian women have been campaigning for equal rights since the beginning of the last century. back in 1936, the first women were admitted to university in the country. now, over half of all iranian students are female. despite that advance, women are still prohibited from doing many things in public. it's particularly hard to break with traditional set-ups in rural communities. and yet, time and again, some courageous women do exactly that. reporter: susan rashidi lives as a nomad in the kurdish region of northwestern iran. during the winter, she and the other members of her community head south to warmer climes. she always has plenty to do.

women here work just as hard as the men. but they don't enjoy the same rights. susan: there are certain customs and rules that we have to obey. traditions are especially strong amongst us kurdish nomads. for example,e, girls aren'nt allowed toto participate in sports. for ages i didn't dare tell my parents that i wanted to do sports. when i finally did, my father was furious. reporter: but she remained undeterred, and despite her father's displeasure, she took up kickboxing. the memory of her childhood struggles makes susan sad. the restrictions placed on her as a woman have had a profound effect on her. susan: neighbors and family members looked down on my father because of me. they talked about me behind my back. many also said bad things to my face, but i ignored it and

continued to do my sport. even when i started winning tournaments and all the media reported on this nomad-girl who had become a winner, it still wasn't acceptable for the people here. reporter: but it was acceptable for one person -- sadjad mirzayee -- a young man from a nomad family from illam in southwestern iran. he had been admiring susan from afar. he was impressed by her courage and strength. when he asked her to marry him, she had one condition -- that he not interfere in her sporting life -- a condition that sadjad was happy to accept.

sadjad: i see men and women as equals. women cacan do sports justst . si i have no problem with that, regardleless of what other peoe say. in fact, i'm proud that my wife is a kickboxer. i like that, and i support her as much as i can. reporter: the couple have decided to continue living as nomads. that's unusual for people of their age. most of the younger generation have moved to the big cities in the hope of having a better future. but sadjad finds a sense of freedom in this solitude. susan loves the great outdoors, too. and she loves her new life.

her struggles as a young girl paid off. she has won kickbox competitions at the national level. she has a supportive husband and has achieved more than she ever dreamed. the next tournament is coming up soon, so susan needs to practice extra hard. and here, too, her husband is happy to help. susan was first inspired to do kickboxing when she was a child and saw bruce lee movies. she said she wanted to be like him. she noticed five moves that she secretly practiced at night -- left, right, right. left, right, right. susan: we women just need places to train. i have never seen such strong-minded women as here in iran. iriranian women are really stro. they're able to achieve what they want even under the most difficult conditions.

all they need are opportunities to practice, places where they can train that are safe and secure. reporter: susan didn't wait for someone else to take the initiative. she opened up her own kickboxing school in abdanan, the city nearest to her camp. men dominate the public sphere in this conservative city, which is home to 50,000 people. there aren't many women on the streets here. unemployment and frustration abound. married women are often the victims of domestic violence. when susan decided a few months ago to teach kickboxing to girls, the students came in droves. ♪

reporter: since then, the girls have been winning one tournament after another. back home at her camp in the evening, susan proudly shows us her medals. she only has one regret.

susan: i don't have a single photo or video of me actually fighting. this here is all i have because in iran you're not allowed to film women doing sports. that's why i can't show my students or children footage of me competing in a tournament. the security services wouldn't allow that. reporter: susan pursued her dream against all the odds. now her students are following in her footsteps. their inspirational instructor has given them the confidence to believe that the sky is the limit if they're prepared to over the past 50 years, deforestation has destroyed d l but a fraction of the country's rainforest - -- the naturarl habitat of the orangutan. now, bukit tigapuluh natnanal park is e of the animals' few reining refuge

the years ago, ourepeporter inga sieg witnessed the reintrtroduction of f a female ororangutan intoto the wild. now she'e's fought her way bac throh ththe fost, toto s how dora is doing. reporterer: we're on a a missio find dorora. e's s he somewhere, deepn thsumatrtr jungle. zoologist peter pratje andisis teameleaeased the oranangutan io ththe wild, equiuipped witha transmititter. peteter: dora has s been in thee jungle f for quite a w while . so we can no longer predict wh. we have 2000 square kilometers of forest here, so it takes me. buthen suddey you hear stling i ithe trees and you find her agagain. porter: in the end, dora's ririosity ts t the bter ofof her,r, and she appppears.

shshs now eight years old. released into the wi.. but before that, she hadeeeen taht a all s neededed know toto ssurvivive in the junungle -- ho these are inings baby orananguts normally l learn from their moerers. but dora a was an orph. she had d spent most o of her e being keptpt -- illegalllly --a pet. as a resulult, she's verery t. even after three years in the the consnservationiststs are keg a ose e eye dora.a.

ght now eweight.rrieddbecaug andhani: y you are so hahappy. i love dora because dora is an adorable orangngutan. she isis . she interaracts with thehe stf veryry well, also.o. but she e is really smart.t. i mean, , she can survrvive ine jungle.. repoerer: per pratatje h beenn workg with ongngutanfor 1717ye. hehe and his team have releaed 170 ininto the wild d so fa. but they'l'll need twicece that nunumber to prododuce a populan pete o our mn aim m to protect wlanand inforest. ow the orangutaisis like our poster ilild, t ambasasdor of t rainforestst if you willll. and ifif we don't prprotect ite will lose thororangutan. 80% s sumatra's raiainforest s

didisappeared ovover the last0 years.s. that means the orangutans' natural habitat is disappearing. none of them could survive in an oil palm or acacia plantation. these monocultures are completely different from their natutural habitat. thatat's why it's so impornt that we e preserve the remainig 20% ofof the rainfororest. reporterer: the focus now isn preservingng therotectededreas that alreadydy exist. itit's too late e for ythingng . amoy h h also found a nehomeme in the bukit tigululuh nionall park, where e'e's noliving i itit's too lthe wi.or ythingng . l the orgutans ithis ture resve were rn in captivity -- each one with its own story. rimbani has lived in the wild for years. right now she's coming back totf

her yoyoung son radjdja. pepeter: when yoyou observe anan orangutan,n, you often s see behaviors that are typical of . you can really seehat t wee closely related. each animamal is an indidivida different character, and a different t speed at whichch y leararn new thingsgs. they'r're like one big family. reporter: veterinarian andhani hartanti is going to check dora over. not only has she been long weig, , she's also beeeen ving difficultieses climbing ---- probablyly because shehe was a ght with ather orangutan and is injured..

andhi:i: abo threeeeeeks ago, onof our sff fouound h sufferers something, or a probl. and wewe knew thatat the rightt has s open wounund, deep enouh so we neneed to stitch so o then can heheal. reporter: thnameme othis national pk k -- bit tigiguluh -- means 0 0 hill 's one of sumatrs lalargt remaining loanand raforestst-- and one ofhe l lasremaining sanctuieies for orangugutans. pepeter: if oranangutans can s e hehere, then tigigers, elepha, ananall the other animals will beututomaticly p protected, tot. that's why it's so impmportanto preserve whahat we have hehere

reporter: peter and andhani continue to observe the ororthe prproject will only beie considered s successf ththe yea. animals s have offspriring. peteter: our hope e ishat thee population here will become so large that the orangutans can survive on their own and reprucuce, so at t there will be a new w population in n bukt titigapuluh longng-term. have a b baby to show off --e'sa hehelping ensnsure at theheillo region of germany known for its strong traditions. reporter: when you t think of eaeating out in n munich in sosn

germany, you're most likely to think of traditional bavarian meat disishes -- sausageges, memeatloaf, or roast pork. but here, too, more and more people are turning away from meat, and animal products in general. one of them is erbil gunar. he was one of the first to open a doner kebab shop in n nich -- that w was over 35 y years ago. his kebabs w were a great t suc, but thenen erbil had a a changf heart. evererything at hihis snackb s w 100% veg. the doner r kebab is made wit. erwe intntroduced abouout 11 yes is o veganago.er kebebab. i would say wewe were pioneersn this.

rereporter: over t the years, l and d his team refefined their seitan t to improve its coisistency and tataste d to enenre it keeps longer sean is s made owheaeat glen. it's thougught to have b been t used in anancient china a as at substitutute for buddhdhist ms who were v vegetarians.. it took lots of experimentation. erbil: it wasn't easy. weweried out various typeses f aiain, butt dididn'turn ouout ththe way we wananted it. we also created four sauces -- first we have turmrmeric and nger, then there's the classic herb sauce. wewelso make our own tzatztzik, and then we have a beetroott

saucuce. reporter: so what do e customers think? >> it's delicious and it's vegan -- that's prtyty rare. i>> y y bring non-vegan frienens here, anand they become e vegan. host: that's all for today.hat,i don't forget though that we love

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]

♪ music [loud raindrops] narrator: torrential rain in the dry season. flooding when there's normalally drought. desert where there used to be grass. ♪ music narrator: tens of thousands of deaths in cities across europe from freak heat waves. even more taken to hospital. is this a taste of our future? dr. patrick kinney: climate change is already profoundly affecting public health across the globe.