. >>> and fred de sam lazaro reports from the shrine of our lady of guadalupe in mexico, the most visitedimage site in the catholic world. ♪ >>> major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lillian endowment, an indianapolis-based private family foundation, dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america, designing customized, individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> welcome. i'm bob abernethy. it's good to have you with us. >>> this week president obama announced he will take executive action that will protect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and make many of them eligible for work permits. the new measures will not create a pathway to citizenship, nor create health benefits. for many months faith groups have been urging congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill, which has been stalled in the house. the president's decision has drawn sharp criticism from those who say he has overstepped hi

special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has that story.ersion of his report appeared previously on religion and ethics newsweekly and was produced in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting and face to face media. >> chung, life-long atheist and investigative environmental journalist is becoming buddhist. his first exposeeÉ on illegal dm on the river. it's led to national attention, a job firing and burnout. as an environmentalist, every day what we with see is polluted air, polluted rivers, and the slaughter of wild animals. this kind of negative energy attacks us every day. where to we draw our strength from? >> reporter: he's one of millions of chinese returning to buddhist and confucius temples that in times past have been condemned by the government. more than four decades ago, in the china's revolution, in temples were destroyed or defaced. today these temples are alive. by some accounts, one out of every five chinese call themselves buddhists. >> some scholars say the search for fate is linked to china's massive env

special correspondent fred de sam lazaro has our report from medellin, colombia. it's part of our series, "agents for change." >> ♪ one, two, three, o'clock four o'clock rock ♪ >> reporter: for two decades, martha alvarez has held dance classes year-round seven days a week. for 350-odd students who cram into her tiny studios it's an alternative, she says, in a city that offers few. >> ( translated ): i started this is 1992 out of concern for the amount of drug use and prostitution in the neighborhood. >> reporter: that was back when medellin had become the world's murder capital; the cocaine capital, home of the drug lord pablo escobar, who was killed by police in 1993. >> it has changed a lot since then in terms of drug use and the armed conflict has certainly diminished. >> reporter: medellin has seen a dramatic drop in violence; the murder rate is down from about 380 per 100,000 people to about 50. experts credit a general calming trend in the country's long running civil war. also, the efforts of new political leadership to bring people together in the city, s

. >>> and fred de sam lazaro reports from the shrine of our lady of guadalupe in mexico, the most visitedimage site in the catholic world. ♪

newshour special correspondent fred de sam lazaro filed this report part of our series agents for change reporter: every day, long lines of water tankers fill up at pumping stations. 4,000 gallons on each truck, enough for two homes for about a week. >> knock, knock! >> reporter: it's not an emergency or drought. this is normal practice in mexico city, with a population of 22 million, it's like filling a swimming pool with a teacup. environment scientist juan santabanez did the math for one large neighborhood. >> in istapalapa there are 1000 trucks distributing water to two million people, which is nowhere near enough to meet the needs of those people. >> reporter: it's expensive, inefficient and customers like sylvestre fernandez, a struggling cab driver, are not satisfied. >> sometimes it takes up to five days after we request it to arrive and sometimes we can't buy other things, like diapers for the baby, because we have to pay for water. >> reporter: the alternative, really the only choice for many of the poorest is self service from a municipal tap. amelia segura trudges down and up