♪ ♪ thailand quickly became o of southeast asia'sajor industrial countries after

enjoying high economic growth in the 1980s. the naon's realgd has doubled in th last two d decade ale. however, the are stilllmost 2,000 slumsn theapital city of bangkok. klong toey is said to be among e biggest of them with more th 8 80,000 redents. >> the allies he are barely wide enough for oneerson to walk through. the homes nearbyre jus 10 square mets in size. typically an entire familyives in this smalspace.

this was essenal to the nation's growthnd the slums provided growt to rur mai grapts w would meet those demands. as the economy grew, slums expanded while cme rates and sanitaryonditions became worse. >> the environment improv only

recently a forhe cenal governme and ngos joined hands to change the area. but residents of thelums still make only half the averageouse hold incom in banok. in the late 199,his wom migrated here from a rural village. >> pmanee jankup came to bangkok when s was7. with t money she bught along, she could only affordo live in e sms. she lived amo many other peoplerom her how my town whenhe met her husband.

she currently les with him and eir son. he wks as a driver for a business owner while s sells send hand clothing. their family can only spend few days off togetheeach month. rent is64 u.s. a month for this h hom with a toilet in th corner othe main room and sleeping space on the second floor. wiwith the unstle income, junk l jankap and herer famy can't affordny betetter.

>> the familyy liveses out tiri days jt one step from poverty. all of their house holdd electronics are hand-me-downs. despite having been the foundation for thailand's economic growth, many laborers have been left in the dust. this episode depicts the struggles of those getting by in bangkok's largest slum, klong toey. >> on the main street of klong toey is a popular second hand shop attracting long lines of custers. it was launched by an ngo called second chance bangkok. an australian couple opene the store to bring wk to local residents. now it's run by t locals themselves. the people who work and shop at

this second store are predominantly residents of the sl. this woman worked here part time as a college student and became a full-te employee after graduati.

>> the store also sells unused its as well a brand name goods. by deliberately selling them at low prices, the shop encourages locals to openheir own shops. the store's profit is used to cover maintenance costs and keep it running long term.

>> second chance actely upcyclcles, meaning they reuse ems that didn't sell. for example, they make new products out of fabric taken from clothes. the process creates new j jobs r women who specicialize in sewin. at 11:30 a.m., second chance opens its doors. 30 minutes prior to opening, the store had already attracted awe line of customers. these people all seek to resell the items at bazaars. high quality second hand clothes attract more customers than brand-new cheap ones. ever since a surge of customers broke the door, the store had been distributing number cards

to manage the crowd. now they start eyeing quality goods from outside the shutters. >> finding quality goods is like searching for buried treasure. customers usually grab items first and check the detas later. if they lose this first battle, they'll be stuck with leftovers.

panmanee is among the customers. she hunts through the clothes like a pro. >> one couple buys a massive amount of goods. they grab everything from kitchen appliances to shoes and clothes.

>> they purchase two baskets full of items which they plan to sell at a morni market. they pay a total of more than $80. unable to scacarry everything i

their motorcycle seat, they carry the rest home. this man and his wife were both born in klong toey. they grew up as childhood friends and married young. now they have one daughter. their home is located about two minutes away on foot from this central street. they've been living here since their parents' generation. she renovated it ten years ago. unlike most residences in the neighborhood, their house is quite spacious. beyond thehe 15 square meter living room is anotherer room.

the mountains of items scattered here are intended for resale when they can expand their business. among them are some compuputerso old it's hard to imagigine them selling. >> soon after graduating from elementary school, she began performing day labor. he decided to open his own store. but the venture was difficult for someone with no technical

knowledge. >> their first grand child was born with their daughter was 19. she asked the daughter who the father was, but she wouldn't say. a year ago, their daughter gave birth to her second son, fathered by a different man. their daughter lives together with them in the same home.

>> they feel they have no choice

but to put all their energy into their work. >> nongnut begins cooking in front of her home. she continues serving light meals which began at a customer's encouragement when they ran the online game cafe. the profit from reselling items early in the morning and revenue from selling food now support

this family of five. >> in the slums, it's not unusual for people to have half brothers or sisters. two siblings are half siblings from different fathers. she has another brother from the same father, but he hasn't returned home for some time. she's the only one of her siblings to have graduated from college. having always dreamt of higher education, she paid her college tuition through scholarships and

income from part time work. when she began working after graduation, life improved slightly. she and her family were able to rent a bigger home. this provided her with her own bedroom, attaining another modest dream of hers.

>> she's been tacking time as much as possible to learn english since learning she could be sent to singapore as an interpreter. this will be her first overseas trip, making one more childhood dream come true for her. night falls suddenly in the slums. the fading sunlight hardly reaches the alley ways and darkne darkness sweeps throrough in wh seems like an instant. when crime rates were higher,

most people stayed indoors. now children can be seen playing outside. at 5:00 a.m. sarawood prepares for an opening bazaar. the market houses about 100 shops selling clothes, shoes, daily necessities, electric applpliances and more. theyey offer unused products procureded from unconventional sales routes. however, sarawoot's shop is nowhere to be seen. he's outside between the

building and parking lot. this space has no electricity but costs less to rent as the indoor sales areas. with the small profit he makes, sarawoot can only afford this space. customers begin swarming the shop even before he finished li lining up products. they come seeking the low cost goods he brings. some are valuable items not found in regular stores. his sales today earn him more than $100.

>> his dream is to get back to

selling in a proper store under a roof. the sun soon rises over the slum. yet another day begins across bangkok for people of different social classes. day to dow in tay in the slums, little seems to change. the same routine ensues for the customers of second chance. residents here take just one

step forward each day to improve their lives. one day at a time they do everything they can to survive.

>> thailand is said to have the largest income gap in the world with 1% of the population owning 60.9% of the nation's wealth. among the slums in the capital of bangkok, more than 2 million residents continue their perpetual struggle to survive.

>> not since but israel-jorordan peace treaty was signed more than 25 years agago has so much progress been made toward peace east. middle >> donald d trump brokers s and agreemement to normalili relatis between israel a and thehe unitd arab e emirates. under the deal, israel agrees to suspend the annexation of palestinian land. palestinian leaders called the agreement a betrayal. ♪ >> this is al jazeera live from london. alalso coming up -- [singing] ♪