>> welcome to global 3000. online schooling in china. we find out how beijing is maintaining a a tight grip on kids stuck at home. jungle schooling. we learn how the pandemic is affecting orangutans being prepared for a life back in the wild. but first, we head to italy, where a former drug mule tells us about his time within the nigerian mafia there. drugs, money-laundering, forgery, arms smuggling, theft,

cyber-crime. when it comes to organised crime, business is booming, with revenues of more than 800 billion euros a ar, accordg to the latest report by the eueuropean policice authority,y, europol.l. the report also says there are around 5000 trans-national criminal groups operating in europe. one of the most lucrative criminal activities is people-trafficking. this particularly affects women from nigeria. many of whom are forced into prostitution in europe. in italy, according to united nations estimates, as much as 80% of nigerian migrant women arriving in the country are at risk of sex-trafficking. and those behind it are often nigerian criminals. the nigerian mafia's stronghold in europe is the small town of

castel volturno, just outside naples. >> this is nigeria. >> ts is thetalianan coastal coununity ofastetel vourno,, near naples. once an n upscale resosort, now it's a wasteland. we visited before the coronavirus pandemic. >> this is nigeriaia. >> the nigerian mafia has taken root here. this former member tells us how his countrymen make millions in people smuggling, drug running and prostitution. he wishes to remain anonymous. so we will simply call him davide. he changed sides to work with the italian authorities and now his life is in danger. >> castel volturno is a big headquarters for the nigerian mafias because this is the only place they can stay without control and there are many hidden places here in castel volturno where they can hide their things and they can do

everything they want without notifying the state or the police. >> davide used to work as a drug courier for the nigerian mafia. he would swallow sealed pellets containing cocaine and then smuggle them across international borders to italy. >> so i can swallow up to 2 los. yououannot carry enough. so you have to stay at two days without food. you take latté, like milk, and red oil. if you mix it and drink it, then it all comes out. it is big. >> many of the drug couriers die in the process says radiologist mariano scaglione. if just one packet of cocaine has a leleak or tears open inse theieir intestineses, the resus almost cerertain death. scaglione has teamed up with

the italian authorities s to crcrack down on the practice. >> the pellets you can see are in the intestine. there are 20 to 30 here, each about 7 or 8 centimeters long. they're packed close together. it's an incredible quantity of cocaine. >> a and as the raradiologit explainsns, many countntries k the technical meanans to detet this form of smuggling. >> cocaine wrapped up in a condom will not show up in a normal x-ray. the smugglers now use new materials to avoid detection and prosecution. sometimes it's hard for us to distinguish between these pellets and foodeing digesd. i remember thinking onone tim,

they could easily be gnocchi. >> somebody is a carri f from somemewhercarryiyingrugs, arriviving in italy.y. if t the pson cacannot dischare the goods, they will just tie the person on the ground, tie the arms, and wait for the person to die. then they take off the goods. the goods are more important than the person. the value of human being is zerocompletelyly zero. >> then there's prostitution. here too, people are disposable. it's another market dominated by the nigerians in a region that's traditionally the stronghold of an italian mafia clan, as w we're told byby a ll prosecututor. >> foror decades, the castel volturno regegion hahas been controlled by a very dangerous and powerful cammorra clan, the

casalesis. but even so, the nigerian mafia have managed to expand in the area. i am sure these criminal two organizations have come to some kind of arrangement or pact. >> blessing is one of the many women who fell victim to the criminals.s. the e nigerian comomputer sciet was lulured to europope with e promisise of a high-h-paying . she came to italy via spspain with all the right paperwork anand perfectly y legal. but, like e thousands ofof oth nigerian women, was forced into prostitution. >> i got scared when they took away my phone. next, they told me i owed them 65,000 euros. only then did i realize i was at the mercy of people-traffickers. >> blessing found the courage to escape from her fellow

nigerian tormentors. she went to the police and was taken in by nuns. it's amazing she managed to get out alive. when they put you on the street, they'r're always spyig on you, watching you. if a car comes by, a customer, they keep a list and check your earnings later that evening because you could d be hiding money. if you g get pregnant,t, they e you sosome abortion n drugs and then lock you up at home for three days despite thehe bleedi. >> most ofof thesellegegal activities happen in what the nigerian mafia calls connection houses. during one raid, italian authorities found weapons, drugs and evidence of prostitution. the mafia bosses hold absolute power. those found to be breaking the rules are simply put to death. >> they cut you into pieces, and they will give you to any

member that is in the group to go and throw it in the forest. so if the body is taken apart into pieces, surely nobody can trace and know what has happened to that person. >> the nigerian mafia has practicacally free rein in casl volturno. davide recalls brazen drug deliveries conducted by boat. >> when we see the signal on the sea, we wait around 9:00 or 10:00 in the night. then we took the s short boat o go there and pick the drugs. >> so, at the end of the day, the boat i see there, it is not a fishing boboat. it's actually the drug dealer's boat. >> exactly. we cannot say all the police know about what is happening. but there mimight be s somebodo knowows how to move these.

>> as davide explains, italy has a problem with not just one but many c criminal orgaganizas and their influence extends well into officialdom. he wants to do all he can to expose and minimize that. the chinese government is notoriouously intolelerant f dissen t t, something protestos in hong kong i in recent monts know only totoo well. and to eure disssst remains low in mainld d china, the party is extending its influence into the lives of 100 million primary school children. >> lele starts her day at 7:00 in the morning with skipping rope. 130 jumps minimum. that'll earn her bonus points from her teacher. lele is nine years old. she stopped going to school in january because of the coronavirus outbreak. it will stay that way until september. that means seven months of home schooling and skipping rope everery morning.

>> i i like it. exercise keeps me healthy and i can score some extra points in sports. >> lele lives on a tight schedule, like most people in this housing estate in northern beijing. 100,000 people live here. every morning, the residents meet in the small park to do tai chi. it's a martial art that focuses on balance and harmony between the inner self and what lies outside. before lele can relax, she has to complete certain tasks. chinese society demands good grades and obedience from children. sport plays a part and there are reasons for that. >> children need to develop five basic principles. virtue, intelligence, body, aesthetics and work. all these things are taken into account for the sports grade as well. if a child is too fat or too thin, this impacts the grade. so, children should not be too

fat or too thin and should keep their bmi in balance. >> at 8:00 in the morning, there are online lessons, math and english. all nine-year-olds throughout china are stuck at home in front of their screens, grappling with the m material. the central vevernment is s ken on homeschooooling. it makes it even e easier to enforce conformity. in the past,t, lele always wisd she could be at home. now things are dififferent. she feels lonely. for months, she's been sitting alone on the sofa doing her schoolwork. above all, she's afraid she won't be able to keep up. >> if i don't learn well now, i'll grow up and know nothing. and this ignorance will prevent me from becoming a good member of society. >> the pressure to perform in china's schools is extremely high. the learning culture is based

on discipline, routitine, competition and performance. sitting still, singing the national anthem, rote lelearni. from an early age, children learn that the most important thing is the motherland, as they call it here, and the communist party. ininctrination is also integrated i into their hohome. >> on labour dayay and party d, children are asked to sasay something about our motherlala. they are told to express whatt they think and what they want to do as adults for their motherland. >> lele's mother shows us the homework given to her on july 1, the founding day of the communist party. the online answer reads like it was written by her parents. >> without the party, there would be no new china. the party leled us, and the people founded the new china and made it strong. without generations of party members, this would not be possible..

>> about 80 kilometres away, outside beijing's 5th ring road in the south of the city, sun ao is also at his computer. he has the same lessons as all other 17 and 18-year-olds throughout china. he i is specializizing in art. hehe says he finds the coronavirus and home s schoolig annoying. >> well, there are four of us, sometimes five, in a single house and for more than half a year now. it gets on your nervrves. >> sun ao and his twin sisters are trying to get along as best they can. before the pandemic, the sisters attended a sports boarding school and came home only on weekends. sun ao was at an art boarding school and was only home once a month. what he enjoys now is less homework and more time for creative art. independent thinking is not something you're supposed to do at school. >> this picture contains all the standards that an art

student has to show at the graduation exam. you are only allowed to paint a portrait in this style, not any other. and you will only be accepted by a prestigious art university in china if you draw exactly like this. >> painting on the garden wall helps sun ao let his creativity run free. he doesn't hold back with his criticism m of the fixed mindst in china, especially about art. he is worried about the high school graduation exam, the dreaded gao kao where conformity is fully enforced. >> chinese education, from its earliest days, has always sought answers that conform to the norm. there is a uniform curriculum, a set procedure, and a standard answer. there is no room for diversity and individuality. >> china's schoolchildren spend an average twelve hours a day studying. lele's mother invests an additional 6000 euros a year

towards her daughter's education. when we ask what she likes best, she tells us painting and dancing.g. then she focuses on her three hours of private lessons in english, which will gogo on unl 8:00 p p.m. >> no otother part of africa s as affected by climate change as the sahel, south of the sahara. the population is growing and at the same time, arable land is being destroyed by erosion and drought. the result, conflict, leadgg to v violee and d dilacementnt peace cocould come in the formf the great green wall though, a wall of trees set to stretch almost 8,000 kilometres from senegal to ethiopia by 2030. >> finally, titu hawarya can cut the grass for hay.

for weeks, none of the local farmers were allowed to graze their livestock here. the grass has grown very long. now they can harvest hay to use for animal feed in the coming months when there will be little rain. >> we are happy that things are getting greener again. we use the grass to feed our animals and make roofs for our homes. in the past, it was more barren here. now it is better. >> trees have also been planted to combat the deforestation of the region. a strip of green has now grown up, designed to ensure a better microclimate. stone walls and terracing help stop the erosion of the land. and beehives have been brought in to help with pollination. >> when we first started, the farmers protested, saying that this is their grazing land. but we talked to them and the experts helped them understand the principles behind what

we're doing. >> this project in northern ethiopiaia is part of f what's known as the great green wall. a film made by the united natitions reveals the hugecocoe ofof thenitiatativ the aim at f first was to o sp the sahara d dert from spreading g by planting a linef trees s along g the edge of the sahel rereon. but the vision has since expandeded. ththe sahel is o one of the res worst hihit by climatete change worldwide.e. much o of the land h has ben destroyed byby overfarmingn. the great green wall initiative is designed to make it usable agaiain, as the african unions project coordinator explaiain. >> it is a about how to manage the e land, how to adapt the ld to climate change, how to use the land to mitigate carbon, to sequester carbon, how to use the land to provide jobs, create wealth and to bring harmony in the communities where the program is being made. >> but there's concern that increasing levels of terrorism and ethnic conflict in the

sahel region could threaten the success of the great green wall. it's a patchwork of hundreds of different projects like the one in ethiopia. experts say many of them are successful, but point out that others are less effective. >> we have got to change the basic concept of investing in the great green wall and fortunately, we have massive success stories from all of the countries in the sahel that only needed to be replplicate, and theyey depend only on the awareness and the inspiration of f farmers in their r villas seeing what works. >> the great green wall initiative aims to restore a hundred million hectares of currently degraded land and create 10 million jobs. right now that's still a long , way off. >> over r e years, we've become

hugely attached to dor t the ororangun ladydy fm sumatrtrs jungngle sool. in 20101 a team from deutsche welle e began followining hr journey baback into the e wild. the scschool is run n by the franurt t zoolical s socty. after yearars of living g in cacaptivity, thehe orangutans n everything they need to le indendent t ves in the rafoforest. dora enthralled our teamam with her abability to mr the many chahallenges t t befoe hebeforere bng releaead into the forest. after a reree year break, we wewere due to reretuo the kit tigapuluh national rkrk in innesisia, to see hohw the jungle school and its pupils are getting along. but then came the pandemic. >> humans have to keep their distance from orangutans too, even at lunchtime because both , species are at risk of contracting the new coronavirus. these orangutans are under

lockdown and have had to stay in their cages for months. >> since the jungle school is closed, wewe can trarain themo find and interest them to get some forest foods. so we bring the forest foods to them. so it's like rattan and termites nests and all the forest fruits, so that they can learn from that. >> their meals are delivered wrapped in leaves, so they have to figure out how to get the food. useful practice for when they'r're later released into e wild. the cages are disinfected twice a day. hygiene is of crucial importance. the teams who care for the animals rotate every three weeks.s. befofore they starart work, sf have theheir temperatuture tan anher r corovirus s praution..

, theyey shot the vivideo for s repoport themselveves. we talked toto the head ofof e project by v video call. >> orangututan dna is s 97 pert identical to that t of humans,o theyey are extremely sceptptibe toto all our d diseases, espspy ththose affecting g the respiry tract. that is the main reason why we have impmposed such a a stct quarantine, to make sure there is no tranansmsion of a virus replicating g in humans to a population in n the wild. it would probably hahave no imimmunity at alall to such a a. the e effects could be devasting.g. >> deutsche welle has been reportrting on this s projectr years. the aim itoto prepa angutatans for survivil in

eir nanaral jungle habit in the bukit tigululuh raforeststn central sumatra. manyerere reued asas orpns, often n held captiveve as pets under teterrible condiditions. they had forgotten or had nerr leararned w to m movthrough h e treetops, forage for food dd builild nests. their kekeepers at thehe jungle school t teach them alall these skills usually out in the foforest ,tselelf. orangugutans enjoy p piggyback rides. many of ththem don't like to wl ch.. this was before the coronavirus pandemic. so no exercises in the forest , for now, evethough thehey have so much to learn. >> probably ththe most imporort itemem on e currrriculum at jungle school isis learning abt fruit trees.s. what t they look likike and wn they bear frfruit, in whicih season o or in which y year. in oer to o suive, e eve oranangutan has toto develop ar didimensional l main their hed covering space a time. , it teses timto leaea all

thatat. but we havhahad to suspend t learning process. where are the trees and when do they bear fruit, as the orangutans have to stay in their r cages. >> the l lockdown can n only be relaxed d once the pandemic hs been c contained. this inonot goodor t the ananimals. their fitness deterioratates, d they bome bored, even lethargic. not the best preconditions for release and survival in the wild. those that have alalready bebn set free currentntly lead bettr lives. keepers gogo on patrol to o ck on them anand provide extrtra d if neeeed be. here toooo, soci distatancin applies. >> we are still continuing our work to monitor the behaviour of the orangutans. so we take daily data of the orangutans h here on this s f, and we recorord all the e behar like feediding and movining, reresting and social behavioir

and so on. >> t the schooisis located in e bukit tigapuluh rainforest and releases its graduates there. it is a very remote location. so, should any orangutans here catch the coronavirus, they won't pass it on to other ones in the wild. what's more, they tend to be naturally self-isolating creatures anyway and don't hang out in big groups. the team face the challenge of protecting their wards from possible infection while also training them for release. this video was shot a couple of years ago. there is no guarantee that a self-sustaining population will emerge here again. over the past half-century, 80 percent t of the regioion's rainforests have been cucut don to make way for vast plantations. on our last visit, peter pratje stressed the importancnce of saviving the foresest and tehig ththe orgutansns svival skskls.

>> if the orgutatansre able s survi here,e, then all thte other animals in theaiain fofost animal cocounity will be too. e tigers, elephas anand l thother spies.s. that's why is s so iortantnto protect them. >> the number of covid-19 cases among humans in indonesia contininues r rise. the project has a babackuplan ifif the lockdowown goes on foo long. itit will releasase its orangus intohe wilild fore thehehave completetheir schooling,ut will theprovide em with longer-term support out in the forest. that way, the orangutans will be able to settle and have offspring and their numbers can grow until the threat of extinction here is banished. ♪ >> ththat is alfrfrom us at global 3 3000 is weeeek. we'd love to hear your views on the program. what did you particularly enjoj? you can write to us at

global3000@dw.com and check out our facebook page. dw women. bye for now. take care. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

09/11/20 09/11/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, ththis is democracy now! >> youreople entering colle, enring the u.s. mitatary tay don their lifetime have not se a day when the ut t esta has not been at war. the itited stess has been at work ctitinuouy since 2001. agai no fewer than 22 cocountries. amy: as s the united states mars the anniversary of the september