Country. Currently there are at least 2. 7 million afghan refugees in over 70 Countries Worldwide most of them in neighbouring pakistan and iran. And those still in afghanistan face the constant dilemma of whether to leave too. We met up with some of them. Right now, my family is 50 50. Half want to go. Half want to stay. I am realistic but sometimes you have to dream. Ok. My family moved out of here seven years ago, and i was to go with them but i never gave up. I stayed behind. This is for you. Going to germany, i have relatives and they told me, you have come all the way to germany seek asylum here, and stay why are you going back to afghanistan . I was looking at the way they were living there, all the nice roads, these high speed cars. Definitely we dont have in afghanistan. But, thats afghanistan. We got our local bread. And we got our fresh fruits. And we go to relatives house, we hang out. So, we have a life where nobody questions you, where nobody, where nobody looks at me that, oh, you dont belong here. I feel broken that in the past fifteen years we could not get this country to a place where we could have lived here. We wouldnt have to go move to another country. Most of my work is in making films. And my other project. Swimming, creating a team of female swimmers. I place my hope in these projects. That is the 50 that keeps me here. Despite the bombings, despite not knowing what will happen to me when i walk home at night. If we make it to the shores of turkey or greece great. But then what . I realize those who go, are lost. Because you have to start from zero. You dont know the language. And what you did or did not study, your certification. What are you supposed to do . You have to let it go. Its like you are born again. I am a doctor, but i know if i go there im nothing. When it comes to finances, we dont have any money problems. We have a clinic. Work is good, our income is good. We have five children, three girls and two boys. They should have peace. There should be peace for our children. The cat left. Did you see . Two of my brothers were killed in Suicide Attacks. Two of my brothers. When we go to work in the morning, our children say father, will you come home alive or not . People that you see in afghanistan now, these are the people who have been the most resilient. They have been through everything. It has got worse day by day. Its got worse not better. There are a lot of problems. Talking about leaving, believe me my heart is burning right now. Tears come to my eyes. How could i leave my country . If i dont treat my patients, if she doesnt treat hers, who will . If we were safe here, we would never go. I am very afraid of the sea, but i am especially afraid for the children. We have a visa to turkey, up to there we are going legally. After that, we are concerned about the journey. But just for one day. If we die, we die for one day, if we live here, we die every day. We die every day. We prefer that situation over this situation. This week, apart from when i lost my father, this is the hardest week of my life. I received a special immigrant visa for the united states. I am thankful that this, this probably will save my life. But, its hard to even explain what kind of feelings, what kind of emotions i have right now. Whenever i heard from my father motherland and the love for the country, and we would always make fun of that, and we would say what has this motherland given us . Civil war, moving from place to places, all these traumas and all these craziness, people are getting slaughtered, people are getting killed, and our life is in danger. Is this what the motherland does for you . When my mom was leaving she was crying and i was trying to calm her down and hold her and all that. But, in the back of my head i was like why is this lady crying . She would just only, you dont understand. It is the country understand. And, im like what part of this country . The explosions on the road . The killings . All these rapes . All these crazy chaos . Is that what youre going to miss . And my mom would be like you wont understand. It is that feeling that one day you will feel it. But right now, i understand. And, i can connect. I wish my dad was around, and i would tell him that i know what motherland is. When i go to my friends and ask them to help me with my work, they say, why are you so happy . We see the things on the news, and thats all we can think about. I say, i am alive. Those who died, you write about them and their memories. When they were alive they would tell us about their dreams. Dreams they now cant reach. I tell them, i am alive now, come help me make my film. So if i die in a Suicide Attack or something tomorrow, you wont feel guilty. Thost friends have spoken to, or asked their opinion, this is what ive found. They either want to stay here no matter what. Or, they say no. After risking our lives here for so long, they choose to take another risk over there. When i speak to my friends, i say, lets you and i take the risk of staying here. To see what happens. In our global ideas series, we encounter those working to preserve and protect our planets species. This week, we travel to the north of rwanda. There, at over 2000 metres above sealevel, lies an important Water Reservoir rugezi marsh. Its in danger of drying out. Agricultural and Energy Industries are destroying the basis of its existence. Our reporter, julia henrichmann, met up with environmentalists determined to find a solution. The rugezi marsh is a 20kilometerlong stretch of wetlands in northern rwanda. Francis musoke is a leading conservationist in the region. This swamp helps first of all to filter the water. That is very key to biodiversity. At the same time the swamp harbors these different birds as you can see. But another aspect is that it feeds two different lakes on the other side, but remember also the swamp feeds into ntaruka hydropower station, so those are very key aspects as to why the swamp has to be protected. The wetlands are home to many birds, including the grey crested crane. An endangered species. And the ibis. The areas where the birds nest, raise their young and search for food are under pressure. One of the greatest dangers is that people sneak in sometimes because you cannot protect everywhere, you cannot put security everywhere. So sometimes people come in and cut the grass which is not good for the swamp because it exposes the water to evaporation. But another aspect i see is the soil erosion. Because the swamp is kind of in the valley. And so once it rains, during the rainy season and because most of the hills around are not well protected with trees, so the soil comes into the swamp. Local families need the grass for their livestock. Theyre already having trouble finding fodder, since the hills have been largely deforested. Without trees, the soil erods. Erodes. Its a huge problem across rwanda, and in this region. The silt endangers the marsh and lakes. Francis musoke meets regularly with local farmers. But there are no simple solutions. People here know that damaging the environment will also destroy their livelihoods. Twenty years ago there were tall trees and lots of forest here. The people cut down a lot of trees. Now theyre all in need of firewood. The population keeps growing. There arent many animals here anymore. One approach is reforestation. Planting new trees could halt the erosion and be useful in other ways. The hazelnut shrubs, for example, can be used in raisedbed gardening. The branches serve as fodder, so the cows no longer need grass from the marsh. Initially they thought trees were not good for the gardens. They thought the trees were competing with their crops. But with time, with the sensitization and education they have now learned that trees can coexist with the gardens and their crops. The International Union for conservation of nature maintains five nurseries where they grow seedlings, including fastgrowing eucalyptus. The work provides jobs. It has already produced 400,000 young plants. Some of the trees will be allowed to grow to stabilize the the soil. Others will be used for firewood. The seedlings need to be watered twice a day. It will take years for them to grow big and strong. The nearby tea plantation also needs watering twice a day. Normally the plants dont require irrigation, but for the past six months theres been no rain. The tea factory is the regions largest employer and it illustrates the dilemma faced by the people here. Tea production uses lots of electricity, water and firewood. The tea leaves are dried using hot steam. 350 kilograms of tea consume a cubic meter of firewood. The factory manager has now installed new, more efficient ovens. So we cut down the use of firewood by 47 percent. Were working with the forestry and the team there to try and look at better yielding varities of blue comb trees that we use less land and be able to provide us with the required firewood. The region needs reforestation to help maintain the local water cycle. Hydroelectric power is playing a growing role in rwanda. 40 of the countrys power comes from water, so hydropower is also suffering from the lack of rainfall. The water level is lower than it used to be, so operating the power plant has become more difficult. The marsh is a very vulnerable system, but we badly need the water to generate electricity. Wax the torrents that flow from the wetlands have become weaker. All the more reason to protect the marsh. And the species that are at home in it. People here are determined to do it they can to save it from destruction. It is my wish that this continues to exist because it is very important to this area. It regulates, for instance the climate around. It gives water to the hydropower and we need water for our Economic Development and all that. So in my point of view, i would like to see, be it the lakes, be it the water, be it the ecosystem around, maintained for our future generations. Today, more than half of the worlds population lives in cities. Thats almost 4 billion people. And the un estimates that in developing and emerging economies as many as 900 Million People now live in slums. And this figure is forecast to triple by 2025. Which makes recovering from environmental disasters like the earthquake in chile a real challenge. Diego rojas lived in this street until 2010. These are the remains of a neighbors house destroyed by an earthquake and then a tsunmai. The whole vicinity looked like this. The worst part was that no one expected it. We were asleep, then suddenly everything started to shake. 3, 4, 5 minutes long. You could sense everyones panic. It was the end of february, 2010, at 3 30 a. M. A massive earthquake measuring 8. 8 on the Richter Scale hit the chilean town of constitucion. Then, its seafront and centre were completely destroyed by the tsunami that followed. Over 500 people lost their lives, thousands lost their homes. This is what constitucion looks like today. A lot of construction has been done, with funding from a government restoration program. Houses are provided to all who lost their home to the catastrophe. Villa verde is the name of the new settlement where diego and his wife rosa have found not only a new home, but also a new lease on life. I was renting places my whole life. First a room, an apartment, and then a house. And now all of a sudden were property owners. We were given this house. I will be eternally grateful. Thats right. Its a wonderful gift, and well make even more out of it. Villa verde is a social Housing Project extraordinaire. Hundreds of houses have been already been built. Or, to be precise, hundreds of half houses. The architect Alejandro Aravena was contracted to build as quickly as possible, for no more than 10,000 dollars per house and lot. So aravena decided to create prefabricated, incremental houses that the new owners may finish or enlarge as they please. And can afford. Alejandro aravenas firm, elemental, does not design Luxury Spaces for the wealthy. Rather, it focuses on projects that serve the public good on those that have a positive social impact. This is an initial unit, so this apartment grows over this side, this over this side. And the house underneath, over this side. And it seems they didnt lose their jobs. Then they had the money to go to the middle class standard. Its not that were building half of the house. Were building half of a good house. And you achieve the middle class potential thanks to the design, and not despite the design. It is all in the design. The 49yearold is dedicated to social where fair welfare architecture. His office looks out over chiles capital, santiago. Aravena has revolutionized how people think about public Housing Projects. Soulless construction which cementsin poverty is a thing of the past, he says, and must be done away with. His motto is, architecture should enable people to improve their Living Conditions the capacity of feeling good or not, and this is connected to aesthetics. This is the glue that keeps all these forces together. We balance that from social housing and public projects. You have to do the most with very little resources, so theres a lot of discipline required, a lot of inventiveness. If theres any need and scarcity, you need to be creative. Aravena is not only a proponent of social housing. Larger, more spectacular projects are also part of his repertoire. Like the Innovation Center at the university of santiago, or these siamese towers. Both project to not require airconditioning. Energy efficiency and environmental awareness are inherent in the design. And there are other kinds of public projects like the grounds. Over 88 projects in 37 different countries, in total. We tend to going to projects that, every single time, we risk everything we have. The only thing we have is our reputation, our professional reputation. But were willing to risk it because the kinds of challenges that are involved are the projects that we take, we try to make the most out of very scarce resources. Aravena and elementals projects endow their users with selfesteem. In constitucion, diegos wife rosa, proudly shows us their half house. They have finished constructing the other half, she explains. Here a bedroom, bathroom, and a view to where they used to live. 150 meters from the shore, where six years ago, their house collapsed, and tsunami waves swept everything away. Aravena is aware of this threat from nature, as well, and plans to protect villa verde. He has built a basin to retain the water, in the event of another catastrophe. This should diminish the force of a tsunami. Trees will also be planted here. Against geographical threats, come up with geographical answers. If nature is the problem, maybe in nature is the response. Environmental protection and social commitment, the pillars of Alejandro Aravenas architecture. That is all for today. You can watch us online any time. Or follow us on facebook where we have more webvideos for you. And do write to us at global3000 dw. Com. Global3000 dw. Com. Bye for now. [country music] male narrator memphis, tennessee. It has been written if music were religion that memphis would would be jerusalem and sun studio, its most sacred shrine. And you are here with farewell angelina. We were raised by american fathers you can do it if you think you can all that fire in american daughters hey, im nicole witt. Im in sun studio tonight and i have my band with me, farewell angelina. Andrea young is a fiddle player, mando player, singer extraordinaire. She has been on the road playing with all sorts of artists. Next to her is lisa torres. And she has been singing backups for jason aldean, trace adkins. She does a lot of, like, commercial jingles