♪ host: welcome e to"global 3000" japan has anan ageing populatin and a labor shortage, but women still struggle to break into male-dominated industries. in kabul, afghanistan, a mobile library is a safe haven for children, and welcome respite from the hardship of everyday life. children in the favelas of brazil, meanwhile, frequently end up caughght in the crossfie between drug gangs and police. armed conflicts are no longer restricteded to battlefields, t

play out in cities, too. the civilian death t toll growing, and children are especiallyly vulnerable.e. in 2017, 350 m million childrn were living g in crisis s zon. brazil, but violence claims aa shockingng number of l live. the stand-off between armed dr ngs s and police f forces regulalarly claims c civilian l. inin rio de janeneiro alone, e 1200 people, including many children, were killed by police bullets in 2017. reporter: bruna silva is a broken woman. her son marcos was murdered on his way to school he in mare,, a favela in rio de janeiro. bruna: it was here that he died. when marcos turned the corner on

his bike, he saw the military police. he wanted to turn back, but then he was hit in his side by a bullet, which tore straight through him. it was a high caliber weapon. reporter: he died under this overpass on the edge of the favela. the sprawling slum is home to more than 130,000 people. shortly after 8:00 in th mornin p police oop p on suspected d drug dealersrs in s densely y populated neneighbor. shots are fired from the air and from armed vehicles on the street. the target of the assault -- the criminal gangs that tyrannize mare. but as usual, the general public, including children, were caught up in the violence. >> there was a hail of bullets. there was a helicopter overhead. i had to hide under a bus.

reporter: bruna shows us the bullet holes left in the street by machinegun fire from a police helicopter. the bullet holes are the size of fists. local residents have counted them. 53 in this street alone. violence perpetrated by rio's military police. bruna: the investigation into the attack was only superficial. it was us, the residents, who investigated where the shots were fired. the police didn't even come here to reconstruct the attack. reporter: after the death of 14-year-old marcos, his school uniform m became a s sbol of te tragedy.

his family lives in cramped quarters. bruna works as a cleaner, her husband is a construction worker. she shows us where marcos used to sleep, on the sofa in his parents' bedroom. she keeps the shirt he was wearing when he died in his rucksack and has never washed it. bruna: this shirt is a legacy. the state can't go murdering our children. the police wear uniforms, and so do our children. this was my son's school uniform. he wore it in the expectation that it would bring him a brighter future. reporter: the conflict that's been raging in rio's favelas in recent months is starting g to feel l like a war, between the heavily armed drug gangs who hold sway in the city slums, and

the state. and it's children who get caught in the crossfire. the state has turned to the army for help. but the surprise swoops carried out by military forces in a bid to improve public security only worsen the plight of poor residents. roberto: all military and police operations require an element of secrecy. had we annouounced this one, te criminals would have fled and the operation would have achieved no result. reporter: the military forces have yet to make any public apology for marcos's death. bruna silva is devastated by their indifference. she's come into central rio to join a protest. she's brought marcos's school uniform with her. she and other mothers who have

lost children in the violence besetting the city are demanding justice. human rights activists have invited her to talalk about wht happened. it's no easy task for the bereaved mother. on stage, bruna overcomes her grief and vents her fury. she tells the audience that the police are still maintaining her son was a gangster. bruna: the only reaction that came from the security forces was a statement saying that the operation in mare was a susucce. it was not a success. this is the blood of an innocent boy. reporter: bruna's lawyer is still waiting for an investigation to provide answers and establisish who was respononsiblfor her son'n's dea. joao: there are many cases that

have been going on for years. decades, somometimes. one case is over 20 years old, and the perpetrator still hasn't been identified. roberto: if a mimistake was mae in an operation,n, then of coue there will be an internal investigation into whahat happened. so that ultimately whoever is responsible will be punished. reporter: but bruna silva no longer believes that there'll be an investigation into her son's death. it's usually the poorest, most vulnerable sectors of society in rio who are paying the price for the escalating violence. and chchildren in the city slus in particucular.

host: according to the united nations, 264 million children around the world are denied access to education. many of them live in crisis zones. education in afghanistan has been devastated by decades of conflict. 3.7 million children there don't go to school. that's almost 50% of children between seven and 17. last year alone, 1000 schools were shut down for security reasons. in the capital kabul, a mobile library is ray of hope, and a safe space for eager young bookworms. reporter: this is no ordinary bus. it offers hope to children in kabul. every day, it tours the afghan capital's residential neighborhoods. for two to three hours, children can discover worlds far from the surrounding city here by getting lost in a good book. around 300 children visit the bus daily.

farzad: i likeke books with stories about princes s and beggars best, and ones with dragons. shafiquulla: i read books in two languages here. in pasashto and in dari. mehrya: therere are so manany d stories here. i read books about all kinds of things. reporter: freshta karim started the mobile library with the help of d donations. after fleeing afghanistan with her parents, she eventually studied at oxford. now she's back, seeking to encourage critical thinking among children in her home country. freshta: we are trying to do two things. at the grassroots level we are giving people access to books and critical thinking and all. and at the policy level, we are trying to influence policies. our goal is to have a society that can think criticacally ad think for themselves. reporter: there are about 600 books on board. the bus is a safe space in an otherwise dangerous city.

freshta hopes they'll inspire the children w who visit the bs to seek a future in afghanistan. freshta: explosions are a problem. and that can happen at any time. but then we are trying to park the car inside the communities where it is far better, it's much more secure. but i think overall the security problem in the country exists and that can exist for any project, so we cannot stop our work just because of the security problem. life moves on beyond the security issues as well. reporter: ninine-year-old shabm eagerly waits for the e bus to come by each day. shabnam: i enjoy coming hehere becaususe there are e so may excitingng things to r read. i lilike stories about goats be. i don't have any books at home. reporter: shabnam's father always picks his daughter r u. ththe family f fled to kabul m kunduz in northern afghanistan, thinking they'd be safer in the capital. but explosions now rock the city nearly every week. recently, a car bomb exploded

near the family's home. the girl's panicked parents went looking for her. nanar: after t the blast, we finanally found shabnam m at e mobile libraryry. we were relieved.. the only time we let the children out of the house is to go to the library. reporter: nasir ahmad struggles to scrape together enougugh to feed the family. hehe doesn't r read books hims, but hohopes they'll help give s children a l leg up. nasir: children will build afghanistan's future. i'i'm confident that mine will become people who arare willingo do things for others, for their society and for their country. reporter: afghanistan has one of the world's highest illiteracy rates, over 60%. around one child in three here can't read or write. so freshta also reads to the kids a a lot. freshta: keeping hope, for me, is higighly important. because if i'm hopeful, these

children can be hopeful, and together we can make something, have improvements in this country. so, i am hopeful. reporter: the bus heads off to another area, where more kids are waiting to escape their often difficult lives for a few precious hours. freshta karim has started collecting donations again, in the hope of renting another bus, and bringing even more books to more children on the streets of kabul. host: japan is the world's third-largest economy. 95% of the population lives in cities. it's a highly progressive country, at least in terms of technology. but the population is ageing, and shrinking. over a quarter of japanese people are over 64, while only 13% % are children. this has triggered a labor crunch. theoretically, more women could jojoin the workforce. but that would mark a break with tradition. japan is placed 114th in the

world economic forum's global gender equality ranking. the older generation is resistant to the prospect of women working in traditionally male professions. but slowly, attitudes are finally starting to change. reporter: until recently, yumi was an i.t. manager in tokyo, about five hours away from here. she'd never spent much time on the coast. yumi: the first time when i came here, no one was working here. very dark, it was raining, actually. it was really dark and no one was here, so actually i was a bit scared. reporter: she set herself a tough challenge -- to help revive thehe region's increasiny moribundnd villages, and bring e local fishing industry back from the brink of extinction. with young men moving away to the cities, there'll be no one

to replace the fishermen when they retire. yumi's plan is to train up young women and have them take over. >> fishing is a man's business. it calls for physical strength. and anyway, it's just the tradition. there are lots of other traditions we abide by here that alsoso exclude women. reporter: rural japan is still lagging behind when it comes to gender equality. yumi: we respect the old people, and old pepeople still have tht culture. like, old males still have that culture to -- well, not really look down, but they still think the men are a bit stronger than women. reporter: but yumi is starting to change attitudes. and she's found a first trainee. rimi was born and bred here, and even as a young girl, dreamt of

becoming a fisherwoman. she was not deterred by the fact that here in her village, fishing is a male-dominated industry. rimi: i love the sea and marine life. i've always s done physicacally dedemanding work and not j justl thinings. reporter: bubut even women oppe the scheme, on religious grounds. >> women are unclean. they menstruate. and that angers benten, the goddess of the sea. reporter: the japanese buddhist goddess doesn't like to see women in her realm. >> fish are sacred, and fishing is dangerous. the goddess is tememperamenta, and gets jealous when women go to sea. that's why we cacan't take thm with us on the boats. reporter: rimi's father was against her fishing, too. he point-blank banned her from going out to sea.

nonetheless, rimi would go down to the harbor every day to fish it was hard for me. reporter: this continued for years. every morning the men would go out to sea to fish, and rimi would have to stay behind. but then yumi arrived from tokyo and offered her an opportunity to become a fisherwoman. rimi didn't hesitate. since then she's been training with yumi, and learning to do the job her ancestors did -- fishing with large-mesh nets.

rimi: i always used to watatch e fishermen from afar, and now i can do it myself. reporter: it was quite a while before yumi was able to go out along with the men. she doesn't have any formal training. but she shadowed the fishermen for a long time. yumi: i need to know what's happening on the boat. just because i have to manage all of this team. i need to know the reality in the boat to improve the situation. reporter: the men soon realize what an asset the women are. and now, the captain even challenges the authority of the sea goddess. >> the goddess is female, and so why should she have something against other females? reporter: he even permits something that local fishermen usually consider highly dangerous. he prays together with the women

to the sea goddess. and it seems that she's fine with the new state of affairs. they're heading back to land after a successful morning's fishing. the catch was good and the sea is calm. at this point, locals are well disposed to yumi's pilot project. even though h many of the eldey residents have their doubts that it will help secure the village's future. at the end of the day,y, the region is too remote and life here too lonely for young people, says the custodian at the buddhist temple. >> over r 70% of localals are r 70. if the village is really going to regenerate, this is just a drop in the ocean. most young people will still move away sooner or later. staying isn't worth it. reporter: yumi is used to such reservationsns, but she remais resolute. her latest idea involves fitting

the fishing nets with underwater cameras so that the fisher folk will know if it's worth heading out to sea. she is and remains an i.t. expert from the big city. >> i think it's a good idea. it's important to change with the times. an underwater camera needs maintenance, but it means we won't make any unnecessary trips out to sea. rimi: : and i'll be japapan's nr onone fisherwomen,n, after yumf course. reporter: rimi and yumi have become friends, here in ththis remote fishing village where women usually stick to very traditional roles. for yumi, the village has become something of a second home. it's a beautiful corner of the country. it would be a shame in more ways than one if it didn't survive.

host: many people in south africa regularly consult a sangoma a -- a traditiononal he. they make e use of naturural products, , many deriveded from trtrees and planants. their medicine is known as muti. the marketet for muti isis hu. t that's taking a heavy enviroentatal to. reporter: there are markets for traditional medicines all over south africa. this is where healers, or sangomas, stock up on muti, everything they need, from herbrbs, bark, and roots, to animalal parts believeved to e healing propoperties. mahlal'e'etsheni ka khkhumalo a sangoma. he buys his muti hehe. mahlal'etsheni: we use these herbs for different purposose, likeke for casting away spiris and sometimes bringing back good luck. actually speaking, i don't know

wherere theses herbs are comig from and i don't havave any ida how and where they are harvested. reportrter: in order to meethee huge dememand, medicinalalerbs e harvested in south africa on a scale that is no longer sustainable. the bark of the pepper-bark trtree, for examample, is widy usused, even thohough it's one brink of extinction. hehealers use itit to treat co, chchest complaints, mariria, ad eveven nhtmareres. if it't's stripped o of its baa trtree wl die.e. in kruger national park, theree are e few specimenens left. simon: we have to protect ee pepppper-bark treeees from illl harvesting. people sneak i into thparkrk a ststeal the barkrk, branches,d roots. they make a a lot of moneye, bebecause outsidide the park e pepper-bark trees have alrea sappppeare

reporter: the skuza indigenous plt t nurserin t the pk breeeeds pepper-bark trees. ururel baloyi anand kan hannnng have been involved witththe prproject for seseveral years. it's no longer possible to fin seedngs s growg out t inature. karin: pepper-bark trees don't produce fruit or seed in the wild. but we managed to source some seed from an arerea over 7 lomemetersway frfromkukuza. the skukuza nursery growows te plan on n and ey getet distributed to the communititi. rereporter: no o one knows whyy don't produce seeds any rere. onone thry is s th it has s do with thehe climate getetting hr and d dryer. the nursery has already bred a striribute13,00000 yng treeses in t the area aroundnd the pa. when l louise swemmemer and re makhubela deliver a new batctoto a vivillag they y al hold aa workshopop with local l people. about a a million peopople livn

the immemediate vininity of kruger. there are e few universisity-trd doctorors, a many heals, practitioners of tditional indigenousus medicine. they arere powerful fifiguresn their cocommunities. rosie makhubela a is a healing practititioner. louise swewemmer works f for e park admininistration. their workshop is ju f for alerers. there's plenty of interest bebecause there e is a sevee shortage o of medicinal l pla. professisional trafficickers sl huge amounts tsupply custotomers in the citieies, so local l hes need altlternative souource. rosie: we e teach them h how to plant, how to harvest t in a sustaiainable way. so that t tomorrow, oror maybe somebody e else if he cocome e can also get this medicill planant. reporter: louiuise swemm s saya priority i is prorotecthe

plplants that grgrow in the p. atat the workskshops, the heas discscuss whether r they can e leaves r rather than b bark. louise: it's really an engagement process. we are here to talk and d to len togegether with ththe healersd try anand work out w ways in wh wewe can work totogether to se sosome of these e plants for e bebenefit of everybody. reportrter: all the healers at e woworkshop get s some saplingo plant on their land so they veve theieir owsourcece of leaves ad bark.. but the vovolume is not t neay enough to o supp the c cits. that is another problem. loui: ouour fit phasase has really been about supplyg g the substence e maet and we're going toe e lookg intotoays of tryingo adaddrs the commercial mamarket throughgh promoting as to these p plants that w we're growing. reporterer: after the e sessi, louise swemmer and rosie makhubena meet a woman who took

partrt in their vevery first workshopop six years a ago. ththe seedlings s rose chauket back then arare flourishining. evidence the propagationroroject is making a a difference. she's happy y she no lononger ho buy her leavav, and d at she can help her cololleagues. rosese: i can even harvest leas toto give to othther healers o neneed them urgently. then they cacan use them to trt their patientsts. reporterthe more t the project takes root, , the less thehe prpressure on ththe trees grog ldld in thparkrk. the yield d from the ones s ine chauke's's garden is e enoughr her entirere village. otr r healermighght ta heartrt

until then, auf wiedersehen. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

narrator: today on "earth focus," religion and developmpment in asia. filmmakers kalyanee mam and gary marcuse on how cultural traditions intersect with economic growth in cambodia and china. coming up on "earth focus." kalyanee: as an immigrant, as a refugee, you know, from cambodia, my family and i, you know, fled cambodia when i was four years old. and what i realized was what happening in areng valley was that the people were also being