host: welcome to “global 3000”" back to blue -- brazil's spix's macaw was once extinct in the wild. now it's making a comeback. center stage -- we encounter pawan kumar's tenacity on s challenging career path. and fleeing at all costs -- african refugees risk everything on the dangerous journey to the arabian peninsula. glittering facades and vast wealth -- the visible

prosperi of saudi arabia, the emirates, and qatar is a big draw for migrants from africa and asia. saudi arabia's population, in fact, comprises just under 40% migrants. and that number is growing, despite notoriously harsh working conditions, often with little regard for human rights. in the first half of 2022, more than 25,000 people from east africa alone migrated to the arabian peninsula, almost as many as in the entire previous year. mostly from ethiopia and somalia. djibouti, on the east african coast, is a key embarkation point for the boat trip to the arabian peninsula. it's just 25 kilometers away from yemen. reporter: shortly after midnight, we leave obock, a small town in northern djibouti. a smuggler has informed us that migrants are gathering in this open field behind the city and being brought to a boat.

the group assembles here and is loaded onto a pickup truck. many of them are fleeing war and poverty in ethiopia, while others come from neighboring countries. they've made it this far, but now they're going on the next leg of their trip to the arabian peninsula. >> i want to go to saudi arabia because there's work there. i'm from sudan. i've been walking for four days. reporter: are you alone? >> i'm with a friend. reporter: the overcrowded truck travels for only a few hundred meters on the lit path, before continuing in the dark. djibouti turns a blind eye to undocumented migrants. smugglers, on the other hand, risk imprisonment. two dozen men line up along a cliff above the beach, each one hoping for a better future ahead. many of them have no idea that

another war is waiting for them on the other side of the sea, in yemen. >> i want to board the ship because i want to work and earn money in yemen. reporter: do you want to continue on to the gulf states? >> first, i want to go to yemen, then saudi arabia, wherever there is work. reporter: and your family? >> yes, my mother is there, everyone is there. god will work it out. god willing. reporter: god bless you. obock is a small town in northern djibouti, with fewer than 30,000 residents. there's hardly any agriculture, no industry, and very little work. opposite the port of obock, across the gulf of tadjoura,

lies yemen. the main source of work is fishing and smuggling -- gasoline, alcohol, and even people. that's illegal in djibouti, which is why no one talks about it. but fishermen, like abdou, are barely getting by. abdou: i work on the coast, where it's legal for me to fish, but it's very hard. and gas is expensive, so you don't earn much. you have to leave djibouti to make better money, in places like yemen. reporter: hardship pushes fishermen to become people smugglers, who risk falling into the clutches of the coast guard. all these boats have been confiscated. the owners are now in prison. and the migrants? we're headed to a place that offers them shelter, through an unforgiving landscape, and brutal heat. we're going to meet a group of

refugees who have been on their feet for days, including mohammed, who speaks to us. did you walk the entire way? mohammed: yes, all on foot. i don't have money for a car. reporter: are you exhausted? mohammed: yes, i'm tired, my legs hurt, it's hot, and we're thirsty. reporter: is the t-shirt all you have? mohammed: yes, just the t-shirt. reporter: and is this your only pair of shoes? this is the base for the international organization for migration, or iom. aid workers are currently helping some 250 people. they've had to turn away many others. young people, women, and children. some have experienced horrific things on their journey.

social worker hawa musa works with the children, who struggle to come to terms with what they've experienced. hawa: they speak through their drawings. sometimes, they paint a realistic portrait, like the smuggler lifting the wooden stick. they come to us for therapy. there are two paths -- when they come from ethiopia, they still have goals. but when they return, they don't smile anymore, they're depressed and exhausted. reporter: samsa is one of people who couldn't take it anymore. she came from northern ethiopia, got married, and went to yemen with her husband to look for work. he moved on to saudi arabia. she managed to get by with small jobs in yemen while raising her three children alone. now, she's back in djibouti. samsa: i want to go home and take my

children to school. i don't want to move to a foreign country anymore, i've had enough. i just want to go home and put my children in school. reporter: at least samsa is safe in the iom camp. according to research conducted by the organization, tens of thousands of migrants have died or disappeared in recent years on their way to saudi arabia, qatar, or the gulf states. the iom's khadija ahmed takes us to the scene of a horrible tragedy. khadija: there were too many waves and the wind was too strong. they all died. nine people. there are six in one grave and three in another. reporter: no names, just a few seashells, the tomb for undocumented migrants. khadija: they're all dead, and we don't even know their names.

half of the bodies were mutilated by sharks. they were young, but there was also an infant. it was an entire family. reporter: were they also ethiopian? khadija: yes, they were also ethiopian. if we had their address, we could contact their relatives. reporter: the sun is already setting, and these migrants are still on the road. they have been on their feet for days. food is too expensive, and the water is dirty. they share their hopes for the future with us. we ask nazif if he knows what's waiting for them. yemen is dangerous. there's a war there. nazif: war? war is everywhere. violence is everywhere -- that's the greatest war.

what should i do? reporter: it's time for the evening prayer. these men, just like all the migrants on this route, will need god's blessing. host: our next story is also about hope and the future. pawan kumar from india has a big dream. ever since he watched a ballet on youtube as a young child, he's been determined to become a dancer. but he's had to overcome many obstacles along the way, including from within his own family. pawan: my name is pawan kumar. since childhood, i have loved

to dance. in the village, they say is a girl's dance. but this isn't a delicate dance form. it requires a great deal of strength, flexibility, and hard work. i want the day to come when those who mock it see for themselves that ballet can also be done by men. father: where have you been? pawan: i was dancing. i just want to pursue dancing. father: you had a job offer.

why are you doing this to yourself, as if you didn't have anything else to do? i asked you to learn a skill. i need somebody to share the workload. i'm unemployed. i don't have work. i don't have savings. what will you get through dance? why don't you get a job in a company? >> you see his talent. don't you see he's doing something? he's working so hard. just let him become successful. ashley: what i look for is first and foremost, a desire to do something like this with a

passion. because i need someone who's not in because they're excited by it, but they're in because they want to do it. hi. i'm ashley lobo, and i have a chain of dance studios across india. hi, how are you? welcome. you ready? ok. go and get ready. let's see what you have to offer. pawan: i've never had the chance in my life to talk to real ballet dancers. this has never happened before. i feel so happy meeting them for the first time.

the ribs should be visible. gaurav: i'm sorry, but male ballet dancers are not supposed to be here. they're supposed to be here, because they need to look calm. ashley: forget about even holding a woman or holding another body. he's proper, he's overly proper. he also needs to understand every time he comes into a stage, or he comes into a place of performing art or work, it is not his life. pawan: if i get this opportunity, i

will put my heart and soul into it. ♪ father: today i saw him dancing with my own eyes. my soul felt at peace. mother: our pawan dances very well. he's at a good place. he's a ballet dancer now. father: the villagers were saying that it's a girl's dance, and we

didn't understand what he was learning. but i liked it a lot. ashley: so, i think first and foremost i just want to say to you that for me to take him on as a navdhara apprentice is not going to happen, okay? because i feel he's got the potential, but he doesn't have that much experience. he doesn't have the strength we require and the power we require for that company, okay. having said that, i do believe however that he definitely has talent, so what i would offer him is probably a scholarship to study for a year with us and come here to do ballet online with us, and then after that i'll relook at him and if he -- if i feel by then he's starting to develop the vocabulary and the power and the conviction, the commitment to move the body with that force and that clarity, then yes, i can look at him. mother: you have one year. you will have to train yourself for another year. you can do it. father: work hard.

that's one thing i know you can do. they're making an offer. tell them what you want to do. pawan: this is an opportunity, and i will prove myself, sir. ashley: okay. i'll give you a chance. pawan: thank you, sir. ashley: the first thing that i took away was my ignorance about what's happening in the underbelly of india in terms of dance. i would never have dreamt that that kind of a kid would be doing ballet, you know, or even heard of ballet. pawan: i want to continue dancing so i can improve and achieve something in life with ballet. host: a chance is something our planet's estimated eight million animal and plant species need, too. one million species are threatened with extinction,

including many bird species. but all is not lost. the blue macaw, also known as spix's macaw, vanished from the wild years ago. it has since been bred in captivity and reintroduced in northeastern brazil. reporter: the moon is still visible when you first hear them. they are cromwell purchase's alarm clock. he's a zoologist, biologist, and a kind of manager for the spix's macaws. and right now, they're demanding breakfast. cromwell: it's a mix of fruit and vegetables. and they're cooked seeds. reporter: as similar as possible to food in the wild. cromwell: once they're eating all the wild foods, they're able to put together a diet that works for them. in captivity we don't always have that available, so we have to use what's available to us to try and mimic a similar diet.

reporter: eight spix's macaws have been flying around the caatinga wilderness in northeast brazil for several weeks. more will be introduced. the animals first have to get used to their new-found freedom. they come whenever they hear cromwell purchase's quad. feeding time. we have to stay back -- the animals are supposed to be becoming less used to people. cromwell: these birds have never been in the wild before. there's been no spix's in the wild for more than 22 years. so, we need to teach them. we don't want them to starve and we don't want them to be weak and stressed about not having enough food, and then vulnerable, so we make sure that they have food available and they are healthy while they find their wild food. reporter: the spix's macaws are like celebrities. people from neighboring areas want to see the birds. only older residents can recall the time before they died out in the wild.

people like 84-year-old josefa dos santos. josefa: when i was eight, i saw the birds near our house, at the river as i washed clothes, or when i was out herding goats. reporter: dialogue with the local community is important to biologist ugo eichler. their help is needed to make the reintroduction process a success. ugo: we have to maintain the spix's habitat if we want to protect them. and that requires the dedication of people who live here. because they have to monitor and ultimately protect them. reporter: the animals' extinction in the wild 20 years ago was also linked to the way people here live. farming, goat herding, are all typical of brazil's barren northeast. but these practices are destroying more and more

habitat. poaching was the last straw for the macaws. cromwell: the lack of habitat is probably the key that brought their numbers down to very little. but in the end once you get to that point, they become very valuable to a collector. so, the rarer they are, the more valuable they are. so suddenly the price on their head got bigger and bigger. reporter: the animals' return is thanks to a complex breeding program that was supported in part by the brazilian government. a german non-profit association led the breeding program, using animals from zoos and private owners. and a former emir from qatar made his spix's collection available. genes were analyzed to reach the best results -- a complex project costing millions, financed primarily through donations. 52 spix's macaws travelled to brazil, where they were met at the airport by cromwell purchase. cromwell: basically, new arrivals of vip's in the country.

so it was fantastic. reporter: but how can the new vip's be made to feel at home again, and be able to survive in the future? scientists, biologists, and ngo's are working together, and measuring things like how far the birds fly. everyone agrees that it can only work if the destruction of habitat is halted. 40% of the caatinga has already been destroyed. ugo eichler and his team visit local farmers each week. most, like joemar dos santos, live by raising animals. joemar: everyone here raises goats. some have a lot, some just a few, but everyone has something to do with goats. they can best survive in this drought-ridden area. reporter: ugo eichler's trying to convince the farmers to fence in their animals to allow nature to recover. ugo: that's the hardest part. you know, to change the mindset, all the culture they have here. it came from their parents,

their grandparents, so it's quite often hard to understand how the dots are connected. reporter: he is relying on the younger generation. in the city of curaca, the spix's macaw has already clearly made an impression. even in this elementary school. >> hi, hello. who's already heard of a spix's macaw? >> i want the macaws to come back so that our city becomes more beautiful. reporter: a promotion campaign and a kind of hands-on education. ugo: that's what we are trying to bring back, they are proud to be bringing back the spix's macaws, pride in protecting the environment. they're proud to be from caatinga. reporter: the hope is that the spix's macaws will breed and settle permanently. it could serve as an example

for helping other species on the brink of extinction. host: for this week's global snack, we tried something tasty in south africa. reporter: on route 27, an hour's drive from cape town, the r27 roosterkoek snack bar serves up delicious, freshly baked treats. its specialty are "roosterkoek," a bread snack with a filling that's been made here in the western cape for centuries. “rooster” is the afrikaans word for grill. “koek” means cake. the dough is made from flour, water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar. the dough is kneaded by hand and then baked on a grid over hot coals. keeping the optimal temperature

is an art in itself. caspar moss tends the fire. he's an expert at getting the coals just right. casper: if you make roosterkoek you need to be very specific and make sure that your fire isn't too hot. roosterkoek cooks very quickly so you have to turn it over quickly and regularly so it doesn't burn, but you also need to make sure it's cooked throughout. so the coal's heat needs to be 100% perfect. reporter: when you tap the roosterkoek and get a hollow sound, it's done. once they've been taken off the grill, the bread needs to cool for 10 minutes before the fillings are added. they're delicious just with butter, but fillings include egg, bacon, and onion, as well cheese, mincemeat, and biltong -- dried, cured meat that's popular in south africa.

depending on the filling, a roosterkoek costs between 30 and 75 south african rand -- that's about two euros to five euros. up to 3000 roosterkoek are sold every day. the snack bar gets especially busy at the weekend. it's a popular snack among both locals and tourists. pierre: i think its the fact that its made on the fire. south africans love, love making food on the fire. we brie everything. so, its the bacon, its the egg, its the soft egg. its the fact that it's traditional, it comes from this area, its relative. its just something that we all love. reporter: roosterkoek taste best when they're still piping hot. and they say that the roosterkoek at route 27 are the best around.

host: and that's all from us at “global 3000” this week. write to us at global3000@dw.com. and check us out on facebook too, dw global ideas. see you next time. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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