>> we thk that a transgender person isn't like us. why? why are we segregating them? >> surviving on the edges. how trans people in pakistan are fighting for their rights. corruption, criminality, power cuts - and frustration. why south africa is sinking increasingly into chaos. and: brazil's growing infatuation with the plant-based psychedelic ayahuasca .

a sharia court in pakistan has overturned legislation protecting trans people from discrimination. already on the fringes, they're now battling to win back their rights. >> when i was born to my parents, they named me mohamad azim sharif. but i never associated with this name. i always imagined myself in the clothes of a woman, but my parents gave me the clothes of a young boy. those were not my clothes. this is my real expression. this is real of me. and i am very proud of it. but i will not forgive any of

the human being who mistreated me. i will not. i will not forget my brothers. they say that our society will point us, if we will be sitting with you. i am not a criminal, i'm a human being. >> reem sharif works for the human rights comission of pakistan in islamabad - as an expert on transgender issues. >> so, i'm a bridge between the government of pakistan and this community. >> reem helped lubna file a government application for housing support.

>> there are many needy people like me. look at her and her: they don't own houses. first, the government should provide us with accommodation because a transgender person's biggest worry is a place to live. >> few transgender people have access to government support. many live off the money that they are given on the street. here, day-by-day, they are exposed to people's reactions. like khushboo. >> there are good and bad people. most of them are bad. there are fewer good people. we get a lot of questions. someone will say: why are you doing this? we say to them, we're humans like you. if we were valued as much as you, we wouldn't be begging. >> transgender women also work as dancers and sex workers. for many, it's the only way to earn money.

labour, for which they are condemned. >> sometimes a human mind comes under satanic influence. so transgender women fall victim to lust. they get murdered. they get invited to different parties and then get murdered in cold blood. i know this from the newspapers. >> if i were not disabled, then people's behavior could be even worse than this. there are still good people in this market, who don't utter bad words. otherwise, in crowds, people grope us or do nasty things. >> the problem is that if you kill a dog on this side, and on the other side you kill a transgender person, the transgender person has no value, but the dog does.

>> we think that a transgender person isn't like us. why? she's also a human with two eyes, hands and feet, a nose, and a mouth. she talks like us. why are we segregating them? i think they are like us. >> they are under-privileged in our society. and i don't see them being helped or given jobs. i feel like they should be helped. i wish you a beautiful bride! i wanted to be a superstar. because there is an actress inside me. but i am neither a woman nor a boy. if i was a boy, i would become a hero. if i was a proper girl, i would become a heroine. now, what can i do? that's why i've become nothing.

most transgender people in pakistan are rejected by their families when they become aware of their identity. the same thing happened to reem twelve years ago. she was lucky, a friend gave her a new home. she lives with him and his family in islamabad. >> she is my 5th sister. i had four and now i have five. >> from the victim to the protector. the journey was beautiful. the journey of tolerance, of depression, the journey of being raped many times, the journey of thinking that i am somebody who is useless. my life changed when i was

bedridden for around one year. in that time period i was continuously asking myself: reem why are you wrong? why is this society always target you? ok there is no space for me in society, ok there is no space of me in religion. and i don't care anymore. i am like this. >> in 2020, pakistan's first transgender protection center was established in rawalpindi with the cooperation of the pakistani police. mostly, transgender people come to us with complaints about harassment, mental pressure, and threatening phone calls. they also come here with money problems. and transgender people have a lot of complaints

about public behavior. they complain that people don't treat them the way they treat their own brothers and sisters. >> lehar works as a victim support officer for the punjab police department. now, we have sister lehar. she gives us time. she listens to us and then she speaks to the other party and then our problem gets solved. there has not been a single time when we were not taken care of since we have started coming here. thank god, we are safe. >> in karachi, a city in southern pakistan, the women of the world festival is taking place. it includes a panel discussion where reem and other representatives of the transgender community discuss the current situation.

>> i am happy to be here although i feel these men are cowards. they will not accept us, you know, but forcefully they will. so, we have that kind of stick in our hand to make our visibility strong, to make our acceptance accepted. >> we transgender women expect from the society social affirmation, to respect us as women. transgender is our adjective. it's just like a woman is beautiful, it's just like a woman is intelligent.

in the same manner a woman is a transgender. for me i am a woman. >> with these two buckets johannesburg resident mavis mulhongo makes her way to the front of the line. she's gone days without water at home, and now she's angry at politicians and the city council. this is the second week, the second week without water. trucks deliver water to the suburbs of johannesburg. but not enough for the many who depend on it. sometimes mavis mulhongo has to walk kilometers. today, she was lucky. >> we don't know when anything comes...

>> south africa's infrastructure is on the brink of collapse. everyday there are power outages, and without electricity for water pumps, taps and toilets run dry. >> >> it's all terrible. we can't wash clothes; we can't even wash ourselves. now the children don't go to school anymore because of there's not enough water. these children are supposed to be in school. >> the country's electricity grid has been neglected for decades. power plants are rundown and the funds for their upkeep has lined the pockets of politicans and the powerful. the country doesn't have enough electricity. its supply has to be spread out over the day for up to ten hours. local politician lerato mphefo feels the consequences every day. another destroyed power box that technicians have to repair. when problems arise, she's often the first person people call. >> the cables were missing so it's vandalism. someone came here cut the cables and left with the cables.

>> cable thieves use the planned power outages for their hauls, even underground cables are dug up. copper is in high demand. for the affected households, it's disastrous. it takes days instead of hours for the problems to be fixed. >> whatever food you have in the fridge, it goes bad. i don't know what the animal hospital take on 24 hours without electricity. lerato is at neighboring animal hospital, where she meets the owner, wendy davies. everything is dark, the spare batteries used long ago. >> it was a nightmare to even reach anyone from the company responsible. because no one knows how long the power will be out, all surgical procedures have been cancelled. >> if a dog needs x-rays or does need to be operated on, we cannot do it, so from a humane point of view, it's just not

fair. there are still two cats with diabetes in the building. wendy davies does not need electricity to treat them. the six dogs that were still with her in the morning, she sent to the nearest clinic with an animal ambulance. >> we've had a couple of bilary cases, so they are on a drip. when you have animals on a drip and no electricity, the drip doesn't work. >> a police patrol drives through the townships of pretoria. the police chief is on a night patrol, which is mostly meant to show police presence. no cable thieves are not caught tonight but an illegal bar is shut down. crime has risen as the power outages have. >> it does have an impact. in particular, burglaries in commercial buildings have increased, criminals take advantage of the darkness. south africa's government is overwhelmed. after three decades of autocracy, trust in the legacy

of nelson mandela's once-proud liberation movement has been destroyed. corruption is widespread in the ruling african national congress, the anc. former politician themba maseko says people in state-owned companies are misusing public funds. companies are contracted that are not suitable for their tasks, and the clients then expect bribes for this. in the end, very few resources are left to actually deliver the necessary infrastructure. >> as a whistleblower, he put former president jacob zuma in the dock. declared an enemy of the state, he had to fear for his life and lost his job as government spokesman. today he's a politics professor in johannesburg. in the 2024 elections, he says, the anc could lose its absolute majority for the first time. >> i am not at all surprised that civil society in many parts of the country is beginning to organize itself.

it is a clear sign that people are losing confidence in the political structure and the system. >> songezo zibi's movement, rise mzansi - stand up south africa, wants to offer an alternative. a young and diverse generation wants to change the political culture. the majority in the country grew up in the post-apartheid sourth africa. they're fed up with the old guard elites and have had enough of the corruption. we are becoming a failed state, and one of the reasons we decided to create the movement and modernize south africa is to prevent becoming a failed state. more transparency, a more civil society: sounds good not only in theory but also fundamental to belief in democracy. there is a lot of talk about a spirit of optimism, about giving south africa's young society a say, because voter turnout among young people has been on the

decline for years. >> what we have lost is bigger than politics. it's trust. it's an anchor for south african society. if we cannot have that, nothing is going to work. and what we offer is a vision to strengthen the community again. >> mavis mulhongo is lugging her buckets of water from the truck all the way home. she's going to cook her grandchildren their dinner. her joungest can hardly wait. i hate the government and those who are supposed to give the money to the people. i hate them because they put it into their own pockets. >> tomorrow she will fetch water again. every day that her taps stay dry, mavis mulhongo' anger grows.

are you in the mood for a trip? a plant-based psychedelic is booming in brazil - attracting tourists from around the world. acidic leaf juice used as medicine. the 'blood of the forest' is what the indigenous huni kuin people call it. >> i can now see better at the edges of my field of vision and see all around more clearly. >> we're accompanying huni kuin healers - who are leading a group of brazilian tourists through their lands the pagé sprich: paschee - or medicine man - knows every plant here. this one he calls toucan tail.

>> it helps when your throat is inflamed. as a hot tea. under the boughs of the centuries-old kapok tree, the pa-schee lights a joint. while others play guitar. it's a song for a tree they worship. in the village, the ibã huni kuin tribe leader shows us another plant - the ayahuasca vine - which is ever more popular among spirituality-seekers. >> you have to cook it for many hours. eight hours or even a whole day. the broth that remains is the strong ayahuasca that enlightens you at night and sends you travelling. >> the ayahuasca plant is experiencing a real boom - not just here among the indigenous community - who first paint themselves with red dye and then have a drink of the brown

brew. a full cup for adults. >> we purify our souls with ayahuasca. and we learn what we want to achieve spiritually and mentally as human beings. tonight the light of the snake will enchant us. green, yellow and black. >> then he recites ancient hymns that have been handed down the generations. thousands of kilometers to the west, neurologists are also working with ayahuasca. draulio araújo has carried out decades of research on the effects of ayahuasca on brain activity - including on people

with depression. his findings have been astonishing. >> our research shows there's great potential - especially in the efficient treatment of depression through psychoactive substances such as ayahuasca. they enable a rapid improvement of the condition compared to conventional antidepressants. we therefore see ayahuasca as a possible treatment for mental illnesses like depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, and also for drug addiction in cases of cocaine, tobacco and crack use. >> he adds that ayahuasca itself does not cause addiction. near sugarloaf mountain in rio de janeiro, the intoxicating plant is the central focus of a religious ceremony. a service is starting in the church of santo daime.

ayahuasca is their holy sacrament. in a ritual that mixes catholic faith, afro-brazilian spirituality and nature-religion. strictly separated - women and men sing - for more than ten hours - hymns that the church founders wrote. they call it - working on and with their own psyche. >> we drink a substance which has incredible powers. and praise the earth at this celebration for us and all life on the planet. >> back with the huni kuin. they know that ayahuasca intoxication makes you question your own thoughts, and perceive

yourself and your feelings differently. if the tourists want, several times in one night. i perceive everything much more acutely - everything that is happening in the forest. the light, the sounds - the life of the forest. >> here, vomiting means purification. the huni kuin say they've never experienced horror trips. chief ibã sings the ceremonial hymns again. his son paints their meaning: snakes, trees, gods of nature.

the hymns are older than me, older than my grandfather. they come from the primeval times of our planet - and represent our cultural roots and pedagogy. semarang - a multicultural port city on the north coast of java - has been shaped by european, chinese, arabic and javanese cultures. and that's reflected in its vibrant cuisine. one specialty can be found at untung usodo's take-away stand. lumpia is a kind of sweet or savory spring roll. today's lumpia version was created when untung usodo's

chinese grandfather and his indonesian grandmother combined their recipes more than 100 years ago. now, their grandson runs a snack bar and is sharing the lumpia recipe with us. >> we wash and cook the bamboo shoots until they're soft at home, then we bring them here and mix them with shrimp and eggs to make the filling. it all goes into a large wok, where it's quickly stirred and fried. then the mixture is spread onto a length of dough. now they have to work quickly. it's very popular with guests. >> we produce five hundred lumpia on weekdays, and twice

as many on holidays. lumpia are served fresh or fried - the price stays the same. before the corinavirus pandemic, customers used to line up at the stand and eat right here. the lumpia were served with a savory coconut sauce. today, the lumpia spring rolls are only sold in practical to-go boxes. >> every time i go to semarang i have some of these lumpia. it's famous - a real legend in semarang. a legendary snack with a long tradition.

>> this is dw news, live from berlin. france's president struggles to respond to escalating unrest after the fatal shooting a teenager, condemning the violence and deploying more police as millions brace for a fourth night of riots. french authorities say the coming hours will be decisive in restoring home. also coming up, that u.n. votes to end its peacekeeping mission in mali, leaving them to deal with a jihadist insurgenc