♪ electronic waste sitinin accra many eararn livelilihood here,t huge cost to their heah. in belarus we meet aivivists campaigning against a new factorory, which they fear is n environmental disaster in the making. but we start in rwanda. many fled the country during the genocide. some are now returning.. we find out how that feels. the rwandan genocide was,

without t doubt, one of the darkesest periods in humanan history. in january 1994, the u.n. commander in rwanda, romeo dallaire, alerted the headquarters in new york. he'd received word that a pro-regime hutu group was preparing an attack against the tutsi minority. but he was told to take no action. in april 1994, rwanda's president juvenal habyarimana, a hutu, was killed when his plane was shot down. within hours, the genocide began. in 100 days, radical hutu militias had killed up to a million tutsis and politically moderate hutus. those who could, fled. at firstst tutsis, thehen later hutus, fearing revenge by the victims. thousands headed to neighboring democratic republic of congo. and only now, 25 years later, are some of them finally returning to t their homeland. reporter: daybreak in eastern

congo. a region that's been racked for over 20 years by fighting between rival rebel groups. the u.n. peacekeeping mission in the democratic republic of congo has so far failed to bring an end to the violence. the most it's managed to do is encourage a few individual fighters to lay down their arms. until now, nsabimana charmant was a member of a rwandan group of armed rebels operating in eastern congo. he felt trapped. until he found out that the u.n. could help him leave and return to the country of his parents. first, he undergoes a thorough medical examination. the young man knows little about rwanda. he was born in drc. his parents fled there after the rwandan genocide, along with hundreds of thousands of hutus who feared reprisals. nsabimana: i came here from a long way away. now i'm safefe with the u.n. i think ththey will help me.

i have a better future now. reporter: charmant and another former rebel will be taken over the border to rwanda later today. the government there has pledged to reintegrate them into society. nsabimana: i'm so happy. if i had wings, i'd fly up to heaven. habimana: i'm going back to my country. i'm getting out of the bush. i'm so glad. reporter: habimana moise was born in 1994, the year of the genocide. his parents fled with him to drc and he grew up here. he and nsabimana bear no responsibility for the mass slaughter that happened 25 years ago. the young men are simply vicicts of circumstance. extremist hutus in rwanda's government were behind the

murder of between 800,000 and one million people, most of whom belonged to the tutsi minority. fearing retaliation, many hutus fled the country, including the parents of the two young men. in today's rwanda, few visible traces of the genocide remain. the two men are brought to a re-integration camp, where former rebels are prepared for civilian life. it's run by the rwandan government. nsabimana: i haven't even been here for an hour, but i already like it. it's a good place. reporter: some of the men already here recognize habimana. they fought together in drc. in recent years, tens of

thousands of former hutu rebels have voluntarily returned to rwanda. at mealtimes, the young men are served with generous portions. here, they no longer need to steal and plunder to come by food. the next day the men g gather r an assembly. they sing songs celebratingg their country, rwanda. state-led efforts to promote reconciliation and unity have been underway for some 20 years now. these days, , hutus and tututs once again l live side by sid. notions of ethnicity and sectarianism have been effectively erased. a psychologist talks to the men about trauma. you need to talk about it, he saysys. that's something these men have

never lelearned to do. someme of them were already adus in 1994. even now, anyone suspected of having played a role in the killings can expect to stand trial. for whatever reason, nsabimana charmant's parents have chosen to stay in drc. he doesn't know where he'll go when he leaves the camp. the authorities will try to help him track dodown some relative. habimana moise, on the other handnd, will soon bebe reunitedh his family. . the manager of te re-integration camp was a solider r with the army thatat defeated the rwandan government forces and ended the genocide. he lost many members of his family. but he's committed to helping the perpetrators reintegrate into society. ephrem: tatalking about t hutud tutsis doesn't add anyny valu.

but here in the center, we do talk about it, as a way of teaching these people to go the road we have already travelled on unity and reconciliation. reporter: the next day, habimana moise is issued with some money and a permit to visit his parents for three days. it's an important step in his rehabilitation. he hasn't seen his mother for 10 years. she returned to rwanda when he was just a teenager. he stayed in the drc with the rebels. >> i am so happy to see my son again. reporter: the neighbors are also happy.

some of them are hutus, some tutstsis, not that it's supposd to matter in today's rwanda. habimana moise has other things on his mind, such as how he will make a living. habimana: in drc we always hoped we'd find gold. but we never did. i'm wondering what i'm going to live from and what sort of a future i'm facing. reporter: a few months in a re-integration camp can hardly make up for 25 lost years in a war zone. those who witnessed the genocide are not ththe only ones traumatized by it. their children, too, face an uphill struggle in their search for peace, unity, and reconciliation. host: when industrial waste is not safely disposed of, the results can be disastrous. in hungary, in 2010, a huge basin of chemical wastste burs, causing a red sludge full of

lead and metal oxides to flood several local towns. three quarters of the world's lead is used in the production of car batteries. now, a new factory in belarus is bringing residents on to the streets. host: welcome to the future. a huge industrial park is under construction near the belarusian capital minsk, a collaborative project between china and belarus. the new high-tech eco-city will cover more than 100 square kilometers. but back in the present, people in the city of brest, in the west of the country, are protesting against a factory, also developed with chinese funding, that's already complete. this factory's come in for criticism because it will produce car batteries containing lead, a toxic heavy metal. the plant's run by a company called i-power, which plans to

make up to two million batteries a year here. julia subik wants to stop that. she's one of thousands of activists who've spent months protesting against i-power. they say the plant damages the environment. julia: we're doing what our city authorities should be doing, protecting the health of our residents. reporter: julia's house is just a kilometer away from the battery plant. she's just finished building it th her hususband. nonow she's worried ththat leadm the plant's production waste will pollute the air and soil. julia: it's a real tragedy. this factory is dangerous, because it puts my health and my children's health at risk. reporter: julia and her fellow protesters want to prove that i-power management installed old machinery to save money. photos taken in secret can allegedly prove this.

some suspect the equipment came from similar factories abroadd that were shut down. i-power denies the accusations. it says plant construction was supervised by the berurus enviviroental l authority.y. sergey: of course these sorts of plants rank among the more harmful ones. we know that. but we've invested a lot of money anand energy to kekeep e ecological dangers to a minimum. reporter: julia doesn't believe i-power. she shows us photos of t the company prpremises, and documes from abroad supposedly proving that far higher levels of lead end up in the atmosphere from lead battery production than i-power is admitting to. on a separate issue, i-power told us that 70% of their batteries are exported, also to asia. china has been raising its environmental standards recently.

could it be that china doesn't want plants like this on its own sosoil because t they're too dangererous, and wouould rather import morore batteries s inst? in this protest song, the pepeoe of brest say their h health mes noththing when it comes to industry. and that in belarus of allll places, where mumuch of th radioaoactive fallout ended up after the chernobyl disaster 33 years ago. julia: we want our protests to change i-power's profifile. to the poioint that kid's toys e made there instead of batteries. reporter: isn't that naive? julia: of course. we're talking about a miraclcl. reporter: : a miracle that probably won't ever come tru brest city a authoties have confirmed that the b btery plant will go into operation, as planned.

host: just how destructive toxins can be for both the environment and people's health, is devastatingly clear at a vast electronic wastete site in gha. in our global ideas series, we headed to the capital accra. there,e, our reporter wiebke feuersenger visid d the du somemetimes calleded the gatef hell, , and witnessesed anothere to it. namely, some hhlhly profientnt, anand extremely y tough, recycg wizards. abbbbas: hello. come. i repair phones here. all pe o of anoid phphon prepepaid phone, i i-phones, tablet any type of problei i can soe itor youou, come. reporter: : whether it's's a dag argiging sket, a a ccked screen or even a pcecessor, abbas perenjnjabi can repapair everytything. he simply rereplaces the b brn component t with a used d part.

abbas: anything that has a boar a m motrboard l likthis, i can work on itit. evev compute. reportererin accra, there are reirir shopsike e his everyry stet c corner. ey tend to specializize in one typepe of electrical proroduct. most ghanaia canan'tfford to buy y brand new elelectrical g. insteaead they buy u used electc equipmpment papassed on from developed nanations, whichch n ththey have to k keep gettig repaired. albertrt: if someonene brings a tetelevision setet that's beyd rerepa, i didismantle it a a te out the e parts. i remove the aluminum sising and the plastic c parts and ththei sesell it all toto scrap colles from agbogogbloshie. reporter: kokojo abdul karares onone of approxiximately 500 e-workers who collect and sesell scscrap om accccra's vast electrononic waste dumump knows agbogbgbloshie.

they alslso buy upcrcrap from waste cocollectors on n the sif the e road to sell o on. olold telesionons, fdges a and vavacuum cleanerers, all thesese discscarded electrtronics conn valuable components. dul karem m has learned to drive a hard bargain. it's the only way he can e eara living. in the late afternoon, the scrap workers hehead back to agagbogbloshie, , inspecng t e truckloads o of goods as thehey arrive. ththe demand foror electronic e is insatiable. kojo: sosometimes you go for fe ururs aw, and d somemes yoyou get or you d don't get. but totoday i am lucucky. i see e copper, i sesee alumi, and d if i dismantle it, i wil see iron, too. poporter: ey d dismale allll t items mamanually and f find ae use fofor evything.

copppper parts, fofor example,n bebe taken to a a workshop, med down, and transformed into bracet.. aluminumum recovered f from old fridges s also gets memelt dow. the heheat is unbeararable, ane smsmoke stings t the workers' s and fills their lus.s. ththe resulting g aluminumarare usused tmake c coong pots s all shapeses and sizes. the toxic side-effffects of al this recycycling are impmpossibo overlook.. the e ground is vivisibly poll. lilistock rumme around in the waste, so o their meat a and k end up contataminated, tooo. but it's thehe burning plalastid ththicick dust and s soot in te air that p pose the mostst sers health risk.

lius fobil from the university of gha hasas spe yearsrs studying the adverse heahh effefects suffered b by the pee whwho work at ththe landfill s. julius: we have in l lesns, abertitions,nd alslsskin diseases. but signifint note will be respiratory heth, , beuse the ouount opopollutn here iso high itermrms particulate matt. ththe ality of air herisis terrrrle, which we knoabouout. t there is reallnoththinthe e-wae e works can n . they have toake e a ving. and soitit's aradeofoff. th get their moneybubut th trade off their althth. reporter: the german developntnt agenency g has s setp a recycling g center on ththe sin bid d to tkle ththe oblem. in a pilot projectththe giz s begun n buyi coppeper from the e-workers so that they no lolonr needed to rn it.t. mamarkus: i spenent most of thte fifirst year gaiaining theirir, an i important parart of the approach.

and i think k one reas whyhy is workining so well isis that wee susure we listenened closely tot the scrap collectors saiaid thy wantnted and neededed. one of o our main consnsiderats is to o preserve thehe spiritf ththis place. reporter: the e-workers s were kekeen to make the process of recoveriri the scrap metetal safer, w with protectitive maskd proper tooools, for examplple. ththey also wantnted advice onw to earn n more from rerecycli. now theyey can attend d workss here in the middddle of the scrapypyard. the idea is that they can then passn ththeir pertisise the 40,000 o other workers h here. fawzia: therere should be e me attention to e-waste because it also o nked to ththe imate change that we have bebe making ise abou reporterdismantling is the cocornerste ofof the classeses. the partrticipants arere shownw to takake the electrtrical gos apart in a way that minimize e ririsk odamagege ttheir hehealth and thehe environmentn.

plastics and metals arare then sent on toto professionanal recycling companies. richchard: the batatteries, thy cells as welell, they are e vy explosive. sometitimes, iyou u see at they are burnining the cableses, anf these arare among the e cablesu wiwill hear spararks of fire d exexplosions allll over. reporter: ththanks to the e les, the e-woworkers have a also bn able to increase their income.. ririchard: we alalso compared o thworld d maet priceceof copper. we go onlinene and we see,e, ths how much youou sell at thehe scrapyard,d, this is how much o sell a at the world d maet pri. and because of the practalal natuture of this exexercise, is easy to o convince thehem. rereporter: the e whole of agbogbloie turned out to celebrate the inauraration of ththe new recyclcling cente. the e site also inincludes a hh

centnter which ghahana's envirot minister camame to inaugurura. and peperhaps even m more importantly,y, the germann development t agency also o mee workers's' nber one e quest -- their very own footbl l pitch, right at thehe agbogbloshihe lalandfill site.e. now th onlnloors and p pyers can enjoy some well-eaearned downtime, , and fresh h air. host: if you're born into poverty, you've a high chance of staying poor forever. it's a vicious circle. commonly, children in poorer families have only meagre access to education. and limited schooling leads to limited work opportunities, much of which are badly paid. prosperity remains a pipe-dream. but education can offer a way out. around 780 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty. but with a secondary-level

education, more than half of them could lift themselves out of poverty. that's the premise behind a hospitality school on the indonesian island of sumba. it offers a very special education program. reportrt: soon, ththese hotel trainenees will be w workingt e receptption desk, in t the barr doing housekeeping. but before they get that stage, t young people have t to get their r hands dirty.y. 17-year-olold erlin has s beet thsumbmba hol schohoolor two months. erlilin: i'm learnrning abot restaurarant and bar m magemen, angrowowing getablbl is part of t that. is fufun. but so far the best part was learning how to make a cauccinono reportrter: the sumbmba hospity fofoundation is s largely finad

by donatations. eaeach year, thehe foundation ns some 60 0 young men anand womenm pooromommuniti thehe chance of a litime -- - an apprenticiceshipn a five-s-star hotel. redempta: th don't h he enough role models toe e succesul,, beside, ththey see theirir fams and ththeir neighborors, yeah? but t we believe t they have en, theyey have big momotivation, af you see emem since bininning, anand yocomparare the sitittion now, it's realally wonderfulul. th're gorgeous.. repoporter: lessonons in the kin include makiking mayonnaisise, servrving breakfasast, and mig cococktails. yari and his fellow students ha nevever done thosose things before, but now they're learni. yariri wants to be a cook. yariri: at home wewe eat cass, corn, , and sometimemes fis. we don't have anything lee mayoyonnai at home

reporter: the sun bathes the bamboo roofs of sumba in a magical light. less than an hour's flight from bali, sumba is still wild and undiscovered, spared from the blight of mass tourism. but if the time comes, the head of the hotel school says the people of sumba should be ready to profit fromom it. yariri is visitingng his familr the first titime in two o mon. they rub noses in a traditnall greeting. sumba is onene of indonesisia's poororest islands.s. manynyesidents have no rning wateter orccess s to electrici. and many c children don'n't go scol. yari: i'i'm so happy i i can t this eduducation.

back when i wentnt to school h , i had to walalk three kilolome. afafter school i i helped my parentnts, getting w water froe streamam, wood for b burning,d grasass for the bubuffalo. itit was a hard d life. rereporter: erlilin grew up wiwr aunt, and this is the rsrst time she's visiteted her for a a lg time.. theyey have a lot t to catch u. erlin describes her first day at the schohool. she saysys her heart wasas beag so fast. >> i always s took care ofof e, ever sinince she was a a little girl. but t w other people will tatae over. theyey will teach h erlin ny nw thingsgs in her life. reporterer: the teenagager wil ay f from me foror nrly a year. then she'll do a sev-month internship in the hoteititself. in that timemeerlin wiwill lean mumuch more than business. thhohotel scol a also ms too

gigive these yououng people confididence and indndependen. erlilin: i promisesed my aunt ie able to supppport our famimily better if i i went to the e sc, so she let m me go. reporter: this idyllic scene is the setting for a world-class hotel. yari and erlin are hoping theyey'll be able to test out their skills by getting an internship here. erlin: i imagine, somemeday the whole teterrace will be e fulf guests d drinking the e cappucs i'veve mad reporterer: making capappuccino could tuturn out to bebe the ft

we're back next week. and don't forget, we love hearing from you. send us an email to global3000@dw.com. and check us out on facebook, dw women. take care. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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