brought to you by geico, saving people money for over 75 years. by food lion. raising standards without raisig prices. how refreshing. >> and by your local chevy dealers. >> our performance of the game brt to you by your local chevy dea hard to pinpoint one guy cory. >> it is hard to pinpoint one gy úwhen you've had 10 of your 12 layers score, but more importantly if you look at the points in the paint and theench umbers. lorida state in my opinion has th best bench when the country. wheou c bring seven different guys off the ben you're always prepared and ready to play ande importantly they >> 2:30 to go. they have a 14-point lead on number seven duke here tonight. >> sellout house at the tucker center.>> if you allow your stao finish the game fresh, you can see tflorida state has more energy becausetheyon't have to do all the heavy lifting for the enti5 minutes. >> rathan-mayes on the second chance will just burn more c here and we'll go inside two minutes before florida state wil initiate the offense. >> smith tried to help with the screen. xrm with 18 in the second half. and we have a whistle and a foul it will be his fourth. duke with 1:50 to play.e four fr >> hamilton still coaching them having a conversation with rathan-maybout the shot, and, again, rathan-es did a very good job milking the shot clock, but he's had a lot of success getting to the rim. the coach wanted him to conti t put the pressure on duke's defense. >> three years ago jonathan isac was a 6-foot 2-inch guard at south florida. and kept his guard too. >> that'she biggest -- he kept his ability to shoot the tremendous rebounding advantage and he's a young man where he hasn't e scraped the ceiling as who how g he'll be. >> draws a foul from jez smith. third on smith. i mean, look at the details, leonard hamilton'eam as they play the7 game of the year tonight. >> when you look at what they've done to this point but what they still have to do, they're n the middle right now of a threa, d they will face six conscutive rankedeams in their first seven acc games. as you look at it, it doesn't gt to hold on to this lead and walk away with a win they still have to go to chapel hill and face te to go toar heels.ill and face te it doesn't get easier for the eminoles, but it looks as though leonard hamilton'seam is built for the grind that is the acc. hat will be in chapel hillxt we. tre dame oneof the teamsllxt we. playing wellly. >> also 3-0 in acc play. al 80 seconds. 15-point lead, bacon. defleed. heres. the shot clock going off.teranc. bacon and jones battle fort and last touched will go to duke with 58 seconds left. well, the seminoles are having fun. no question about it. acon unable to finish, but terance mann right as the shot clock buzzer goes off. s up the offensive rebound nd adds to the total for the noles. >> the sellout crowd is on its feet in the final minute. tatum a long 3. 21 tonight, jayson tatum. 14-point lead for florida state. isaac the lob. jarqz smith, the finish. and a time with the lead back to 16. jonathan isaac has not had his greatest gam offensively but you have to love the enthum of the young man and how excited he is about the fact that his tea we've talked about all the ies in the acc aour primary ones for duke, but you see isaac for flrida state ming out on top here today. and evenhough it hasn't been a special game offensively for hi, it shows you a lot about had it shows you a loung man and wht about. >> isaac delivering the goods to smith. and leonardilton is going to out with give guys on the floor here. walker will come on to the deck with pjoy and braian angola-rodas. >> i believee just got a warning about storming the cour. >> if i'm florida state i don't want this on the floor, because you almost expected this. you want to in a position where you feel like youxpected tis game and there's no need to >> jones the rebound thee. jackson miss. s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s.s. in six years. straight wins for the noles. they're 4-0 for the first time ever in the acc. and tonight cory, it's convincing. 2 is the final. rathan-mayes finishes with 21. the noles shoot 53 percent. >> absolutely.th you tonight, m. we had a greate. acc basketball at its best. >> nexttelecast is noon on saturday. you've been watching coverage on the acc network, >> abc7 presents "beyond the headlines" with cheryl jennings. >> hi. my name is hailey. i'm 11 years old, and i'm dyslexic and in the 6th grade. dyslexia isn't a disease. you just learn differently. >> my name is joey zoretski. i'm 10 years old, and i'm in the 5th grade, and i have dyslexia. i am smart, and i can learn anything. >> you may not know about this stunning statistic. one in five kids has dyslexia. it's a brain-processing disorder that makes it hard for them to learn to read. now, just in california, there are more than 6 million children in school, so do the math -- 20% means more than 1.2 million students, potentially, with dyslexia. that's just in this state. many of those cases have gone undiagnosed. but a new law is aimed at changing that situation. welcome to "beyond the headlines." i'm cheryl jennings. joining us right now is somebody who has dyslexia, the lieutenant governor of california, gavin newsom. >> thanks for having me. it's fun. >> thank you for being so open about this. >> yeah, no, it's interesting. the response has been interesting. i've always been pretty honest about the fact i have dyslexia, but no one really paid much attention to it until i became mayor. and actually, one of the first things i did as mayor, the first public events, was visiting kids with dyslexia in the school, and everyone was shocked to know that i had this learning disability, which if i look back, was probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. >> except a lot of kids would hear that and go, "for me, it's the worst thing. >> it was, and it was terrible growing up. >> well, take me back. >> i think, for me, i think it was two things. one, it was very difficult for me, in terms of my own academic experience. school was a terrible and terrorizing experience. i'll just be candid with you. spelling, reading, writing, i had speech therapy, i went through -- and i just, interestingly, in preparation to come here, i had not realized, i went to five schools in seven years. so i bounced around because, frankly, the schools, back then, didn't really focus on it, and they didn't want to focus on it even after they discovered that they should be focusing on it. so, my mother, to her credit, kept bringing me to new environments. but i wanted to make the point, it wasn't just about me. it was about my mother. she was a single mom with another daughter -- my sister -- and she didn't have dyslexia, but the impact it had on her is remarkably pronounced. and i think that's just another part of the story. we talk about the impact of the kids and our own struggles, but the impact in the household is very, very challenging. >> well, it's tough because she's fighting for you, she wants you to succeed. you're coming home with bad grades and low self-esteem, and i'm sure that, just like every other kid, you didn't want anybody to call on you to read out loud. >> no. are you kidding? you sit in the back of the class -- i mean, back of the class with eyes down, back of the class, acting like you're doing something else so no one would ever look up at you. nothing more terrorizing, seriously, than going down the rows of desks, everyone's asked to read a chapter in a book, and you're just staring at the clock, going, "please, please, please get this period to end so i don't have to stand up in front of everyone." and i'll never forget -- god as my witness -- mr. morris' class, i'll never forget that moment where the clock didn't strike at the 50 minute to the hour so i can get to the next period, and i had to stand up, and people start laughing, and it's one of those experiences -- i know it's almost cliché, right? but it's so indelible in my life because it was sort of an exp-- i was exposed to the rest of the classroom. >> what did they say? >> just laughed at me. i literally couldn't read. i'm shaking, and i'm trying to read, and i can't, and, you know, they're laughing, and i put the stuff down, and if i could run out of class, i would, but i remember i didn't. and it was just one of those horrible experiences. and, you know, you feel dumb, you feel isolated, people call you dumb. interesting for me, cheryl, i found out about it -- my mother hid it from me for years. i was diagnosed as dyslexic, but she didn't want to stigmatize me, and i appreciate that in hindsight. i lost her 15 years ago, so i don't have the benefit of talking to her about it today. but she didn't want to. and i remember coming home, and i found out i had dyslexia. i just thought i was, frankly, not that smart and was struggling and thought, you know, something was wrong with me. >> before we run out of time, i've got to ask you, how does this affect you now? do you read speeches? >> yeah, i rarely read speeches, and if i do, they're the worst things i ever do, 'cause they're terrible. a teleprompter is easier than looking down at a piece of paper and looking up, 'cause i'll lose my place. when i read, i underline. if i read the newspaper, i underline. when i read books -- don't ever lend me a book, because i will underline it. and what i do -- and this is the gift, i think, of dyslexia. at the end of the day -- i know the word "gift" is a controversial one because it's really ways of overcompensating become gifts. they become attributes. they become advantages. but what i'm able to do is, after i read something, i have to read it again. and in reading it again, then it becomes indelible in my mind. i'm able to take it away from the written word, and i'm able to connect it in a way where my memory is strengthened. there's so many wonderful things that come from it -- being creative, learning how to fail, because that becomes an expertise of those that are struggling with learning disabilities. and understanding the importance of failure, in terms of ultimate outcome and success in life. and now, finally, in california, because of extraordinary leadership, decoding dyslexia, and other leaders, we have a bill that allows us to have a protocol in california, finally, to have our teachers and others take a look and begin to assess students in california that may suffer from the same struggles. >> final question -- you're a dad -- four kids in your life. >> yeah. >> you worried about this? >> i'm not worried about it, but i'm focused on it. if our kids are -- just turned 6 and 4, 2, and a brand-new baby -- if they're dyslexic, fabulous. and that just allows us to have the opportunity to see them grow a little differently. and i'm for different. i'm for people being a little bit, you know -- i'm for authenticity. i'm for personality. >> you are a message of hope, gavin. >> i appreciate it. thanks for having me. >> appreciate it. all right, and when we come back, you're going to meet an 11-year-old girl with dyslexia whose youtube video went viral. she and her mother will join us in just a couple of minutes. stay with us. we'll be right back. >> welcome back to "beyond the headlines." joining me right now, 11-year-old sophia granucci and her mother, lisa granucci. and thank you for coming all the way -- an hour and a half drive each way. so thank you for giving us that gift of your time. and, sophia, i saw your video that went viral about something you wanted your teacher to know. so tell me about -- first of all, tell me about the video. >> well, that video would so my teacher would know that i have dyslexia. and so i wouldn't be going into her classroom and she wouldn't be able to know, and so she can help me, and i can have extra time on tests and be able to listen to my books and do -- have a special class during time -- >> the school hours. >> school's hours, yes. >> now, when did you know that you had a problem with reading? were you "little" little? >> 2nd to 3rd grade. i got diagnosed in 3rd grade. and at 2nd grade, i knew that there was something wrong, so i -- everyone was getting a's and b's, and i was getting d's and f's. >> oof. >> so, um -- >> was that frustrating for you? >> yes, very frustrating. >> how did you feel about yourself at that time? >> well, i felt -- i felt really, like, disappointed sometimes because i knew that i could do it. i felt like i just had to try a lot harder. >> mm-hmm. and, mom, you're watching her struggle. >> yeah. >> wow. so, as you're listening to her, take me back to those early days. >> you know, i had some concern, and every year, i would talk to the teachers, and i said, "what can we do? what can we do?" "just keep reading to her, just have her keep working harder," and i just thought they were the professionals and they were telling us what we needed to do, so i was telling her, "you just got to work harder. you just got to try harder." and looking back now, and i think about how frustrating -- the tears at the homework table -- i feel awful about it. if i just would've known earlier... >> but who would know? i mean, it's not something we talk about. >> right. >> and so then, what happened to lead you to get a diagnosis? >> well, just after not getting the answers -- and i knew there was something going on, and i spoke to a friend whose daughter had dyslexia, and so she led me to a private psychologist who evaluated her. and she was evaluated with the school prior, but they said that she was okay and she wasn't far enough behind. she needed to be three years behind in reading. >> oh, no! three years behind? >> yeah, and she was only two years behind, so they said, "she'll be okay. continue." and then i went to a private psychologist, and then they, hands down, diagnosed her with dyslexia. >> wow. so when you heard that word, sophia, what did you think? did it make you feel better? >> well, i didn't know what that was, so i thought that i'd have to go into a special classroom, i had to have new friends and i wouldn't -- i would get, like, special, like, time after school and i would have to do more homework, and it'd be harder. so i was kind of nervous. but then when i figured out -- when my mom told me what it was, i felt better, and i knew, "okay, this is gonna be -- i'll still be in the same classroom. i'm just gonna have a little extra help, and i won't have to, like, go to a whole different classroom." >> are you doing better now? >> yes. >> how well? >> well, now i'm getting a's and b's instead of d's and f's. so i think that was just because i needed someone to read it to me, so -- and help get -- let me have extra time. and now i'm getting a's and b's. >> oh, congratulations! >> thank you. >> so, we have about 30 seconds left. the youtube video -- you've heard from people all over the world. this is not just a california or united states problem. so, who have you heard from? >> we've heard from all over -- a lot of people from australia, china, all over the country, canada. it's pretty impressive. every day, i turn on my e-mail, and we have a new comment about how inspiring it has been for them and how they're gonna try harder and thanking sophia for making the video for them. >> sophia, what do you want to tell kids out there in 10 seconds? >> i want to tell kids that dyslexia -- i have it, too. so it's not like it's just you. >> okay, you're not alone. right? >> yeah. >> thank you so much for sharing your message. all right. and we have a lot more to talk about. coming up, you're going to meet the mother of a dyslexic child who decided that she had to take her fight to the state legislature to get services for children like her son. also, you're going to meet a doctor considered to be the guru of dyslexia, working on science-based programs for decades. stay with us. we'll be right back. with the xfinity tv app, anything with a screen is a tv. stream 130 live channels. plus 40,000 on demand tv shows and movies, all on the go. you can even download from your x1 dvr and watch it offline. only xfinity gives you more to stream to any screen. click, call or visit an xfinity store today to learn more. or, get started with this great offer. >> welcome back. we're talking about a brain-processing disorder called dyslexia, which frequently and sadly goes undiagnosed. our guests today are dr. sally shaywitz. she is author of the book "overcoming dyslexia." and tobie meyer, who led the fight in sacramento to get a law passed to acknowledge dyslexia in the education code. so, thank you both for being here. this is your book. you've got another one coming out. this is "overcoming dyslexia," and the whole point of this show is to help people and talk about it. so, dr. shaywitz, let me start with you. you and your husband have been working on this issue for decades. why is this your passion? >> well, dyslexia is our passion because we know it affects so many people -- 1 in 5, as you had mentioned. but as i testified to congress a year ago -- we always need more information, but in the case of dyslexia, we have enough knowledge to do better. so what we have is an action gap, not a knowledge gap. and we need to use the 21st-century knowledge we have, and we have to make sure education is aligned with 21st-century science. and, basically, dyslexia is very prevalent. we study the brain. we know where it is in the brain. we know so much about it, and yet kids -- we're gonna hear -- go struggling. teachers don't use the word. that should change now in california. >> and you had pointed to tobie, and you're absolutely right. 'cause you had this struggle with your son, so tell me about that. >> yes, i did. when he was in the 1st grade, he became a different child. i couldn't get him out of the car in the morning to go to class. and, finally, one day, he told me he was not smart, and he would lay his head down on the table in class. we asked the school to assess him for a learning disability, and they found him ineligible. we hired a neuropsychologist and then eventually an attorney to secure services for my son. but this whole process cost us thousands of dollars in loans and a full school year at my child's expense. >> oh, my goodness. now, you've studied this, and fortunately, they were able to take out loans, but there are so many people you work with who are not -- that don't have any resources. >> and that's so true. and if you look at, for example, the nation's report card, you find that there's 20% to 30% of children who are not at basic. and if you look at african-american, latino, native americans, that's even far larger. so we have an epidemic here... >> oh, my gosh. >> ...of dyslexia. and yet attention's not being paid. there are some schools, but they're often very expensive independent schools. if we could have, for example, public charter schools for dyslexia, that would make a huge, huge difference, because these children -- and we've studied enough of the dyslexic -- they're smart. they want to learn. they went to school with their mothers and fathers -- "you're gonna learn to read." and we're failing them. >> well, that is -- it's so sad, but you talked about action. you testified before congress. you worked with the california legislature, you and a team of moms and dads and kids. tell me about that. >> yes, that is correct. >> jim frazier, the assemblyman. >> yes, jim frazier decided that he would go ahead and author a bill that decoding dyslexia california would sponsor, and that bill was assembly bill 1369. and it had over 6,500 parents and children -- dyslexic children -- and organizations from all over california that lobbied for the support of the bill. and it passed unanimously through all the houses and eventually signed into law. >> two parts, right? 2016, 2017. >> that's correct. two different laws. there's phonological processing, which took effect on january 1, 2016. and the second law is that the state is required to develop program guidelines, and that will become effective by the academic school year 2017-2018. >> and, dr. shaywitz, we have about 10 seconds left. what is your advice to parents of dyslexic kids? >> don't wait. we have a paper published just this fall that showed the achievement gap is present already in 1st grade, and it doesn't go away. so, parents, don't be afraid. and another thing parents are afraid of -- if your child has it, he or she has it, getting the diagnosis is a benefit. it's not gonna make the child dyslexic. >> it'll be a benefit. >> but it'll bring benefits. and the child will know that he or she is not stupid. >> oh, that's the best. thank you both so much for all of your -- for teaching me about this so we could share it with other people. all right, we do have to take a break. we're going to put all of this resource information -- and i told you about "overcoming dyslexia." also, i got to show you the coolest hat ever. "got dyslexia? you're in good company." so remember that. when we come back, you're going to meet a family who fought for years to get the help they needed for their teenage son who had a 3.5 grade-point average but couldn't read higher than 3rd-grade level. we're also gonna take you on a tour of the new dyslexic research center in san francisco at ucsf mission bay and hear from the neuroscientist involved in a pilot project on reading disorders. and you're talking to youro doctor about your medication... this is humira. this is humira helping to relieve my pain and protect my joints from further damage. this is humira helping me go further. humira works for many adults. it targets and helps to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. humira has been clinically studied for over 18 years. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. ready for a new chapter? talk to your rheumatologist. this is humira at work. >> welcome back to "beyond the headlines." we're continuing our discussion on dyslexia. now, you've heard that a new law is going into effect in the education code to acknowledge the reading disorder dyslexia in order to get services to the children who need them. now, it comes too late for the courageous students who fought to graduate. i want you to meet one of those students who is a success thanks to his dedicated mother and his own hard work. >> when i was, like, in school reading, i knew it was difficult. >> 18-year-old durrell struggled to learn to read, but he's worked hard and is excited about graduating from high school. he's an artist, creating his own comic book. he wants to be an engineer and maybe own a video-game company after college. but it's been a difficult journey to get this far. durrell learns differently than some children. his mom noticed it when durrell was in 2nd grade. he was put in special-education classes, and she kept fighting to find out why he had trouble learning. >> the school would say, "go to the doctor." the doctor would say, "the school." >> her battle continued as durrell kept being moved forward through school and into high school, never learning how to read above a 3rd-grade level in spite of his intelligence and very hard work. >> so, the whole 9th-grade year, 10th-grade year, this boy is getting 3.85, 3.5... but he can't read. >> finally, a doctor diagnosed durrell with dyslexia, a brain-processing disorder. donna learned from that doctor about an agency called dredf that helps families like hers. dredf stands for the disability rights education & defense fund. eventually, dredf referred the case out for legal action. the case was resolved outside of court, and while the end result is confidential, donna says durrell is finally getting the help he has always needed. >> most parents that come to me come to me after years and years of begging for help, just like donna campbell. she had been fighting for her son. he was in incredibly hard courses with very, very driven academic achievers. he is one of them. he's very bright. he is incredible. but he couldn't read. generally speaking, how any sort of legal action against a school district can help these students is by gaining services. so there's something called compensatory education to compensate for services that should have been provided that were not provided. >> durrell goes to tutoring classes early in the morning and after school. he also turns in extra work to make up for low test scores. he volunteers at a charity. he's working hard to be a success and a good role model for others like him. >> never give up and always fight for what you believe in, because you could do anything when you set your mind to it. >> keep fighting for your child. i mean, if you see something wrong, just try to find the help. >> wow. that is an amazing family. well, joining me in the studio right now is dr. fumiko hoeft, who works at the dyslexic center at ucsf mission bay in san francisco. and i want to thank you so much for being here. you were gracious enough to take us on a tour of the new center. it was very exciting. we saw your son tyga in there. >> yes. >> it's kind of like the control kit, i guess. so, tell me about your sons. tell me about tyga. >> okay. so, i have two sons, one who is tyga, who's a 7-year-old who reads like an adult, like i do or any other adult. the other one, who struggles to acquire the most basic skills, such as sounding out letters and learning to read. and what we want to do is learn how this is happening in each child with dyslexia. so, the brain mechanism's underlying dyslexia, how we can help each child, utilizing their strengths and not just addressing their weaknesses, because these are different for each child. and also, how we can identify each child early so we can prevent unnecessary failure from happening. >> yeah, you heard some of the parents saying that you have to be three years behind before they're gonna get any help. that's just scandalous. that should not happen. >> yeah. so that is what we want to address. and so ucsf's dyslexic center was established very recently with honorary chair gavin newsom as honorary chair and in partnership with charles armstrong school, which is a preeminent dyslexia school in the bay area. >> everybody there is dyslexic? >> yes. >> so they're in good company. >> they are the fortunate people who have absolutely amazing teachers and peers. and what we're trying to do is, we combine cutting-edge technology and genetics and brain imaging, and we don't study just reading, but we study a lot of other things, from musical processing, speech processing, language, attention, visual-spatial skills, social emotional skills -- all the important pieces for a child to succeed in this school. and what we're trying to do is identify each child's profile, which is different for each child, as we all know, and what i call a neural fingerprint. >> and now, what do you do with that information? how is that gonna be implemented into action? >> so, what we want to do is not just do research for the sake of research, but we want to bring it rapidly and directly into the classroom. so, we take each child's profile so we can identify their strengths as well as weaknesses so we can address and maximize and optimize their chances to succeed. and so one of the projects, for example, that we're doing is developing an app utilizing these neuroscientific findings so that we can translate it and bring it to under-resourced areas so that we don't have to have a ucsf dyslexia center in your neighborhood but so everyone can participate and benefit. >> all right, we're gonna look forward to those apps. dr. hoeft, thank you so much. and thank you for letting me go on that tour. we're gonna share that with our viewers. >> all right. thank you very much for having me. >> all right. and that is it for today's show. we could do hours on this. for more information about today's program and the resources where you live, just go to our website -- abc7news.com/community. we're also on facebook at abc7communityaffairs. follow me on twitter @cherylabc7. i'm cheryl jennings. have a great week. we'll see you next time. ♪ >> abc7 presents "beyond the headlines," with cheryl jennings. >> welcome to "beyond the headlines." i'm cheryl jennings. we're always so inspired when we find california connections changing the world. we met a number of them over the past few months and want to bring you their stories. they're people who are working to make a difference, whether it's the arts, architecture, or agriculture. we had the rare opportunity to meet the new young minister of agriculture in afghanistan. he graduated from cal state, east bay in hayward. minister assadullah zamir visited uc davis as part of a nationwide tour to learn about the best practices to take home to his country. it is a huge honor to welcome minister assadullah zamir. he is the minister of agriculture, irrigation & livestock, or mail for short. and you're in charge of everything there. >> well, agriculture is life. it's the backbone of our economy. it's a huge responsibility for me. >> it is a h-- and you're the youngest member of president ghani's cabinet. >> that's right. >> so no pressure at all. >> well, that added responsibility because 75% of our population are youth, age 30 or below. >> 75%? >> 75% of our population. >> wow. >> so that added responsibility that i have to do well. >> yes, lot of pressure. so, because you're working with agriculture -- and i know that afghanistan is 80% agricultural -- and just because of all the wars and war problems in your country, you have a long way to go. >> and agriculture is the solution. >> mm-hmm. >> without investing in agriculture, we'll not be able to have long-term stability. like you said, agriculture is the backbone of our economy. 80% is engaged in agriculture, so that's the only way to go ahead with. traditionally, in the past, for centuries, we have been involved with agriculture. and used to be, in the 1970s, we were exporting 70% of the world's raisin. so we have that potential. we need to look at it, how we can get to that target we were producing back then. >> i want to come back to agriculture, but i know that we have some connections in common. you went to cal state, east bay, and you were there when a man named dr. "mo" qayoumi was the president of cal state, east bay. he went to san jose state, and now he is the [laughing] chief advisor to president ghani. so you are now working with the man who was the president of the college you attended. >> yeah, i didn't -- i never thought that would happen, but it's great. he's a great man. and now we work on a number of project together. >> what are some of those projects? >> mainly irrigation. >> irrigation -- california's going through a drought. i know afghanistan has had some terrible droughts. >> well, that's what brought me back here, learning from the experience of what california is going through. they have done a lot of research, universities out here -- uc davis. we have been visiting the research stations of uc -- the kind of seeds or the saplings or the different technology that are used here, how we can adopt it to the situation in afghanistan, how we can transfer some of the technology back then. then we come to the fresno. here we were talking with the research stations. they are working mainly on pistachios. >> pistachios in fresno. >> yes. and likely, in afghanistan, we have wild pistachio. we have hoards of pistachio, so trying to see how we can become a main exporter. we have a project with uc davis, washington state, texas a&m together, that they are working with extension programs in afghanistan. their extension officers are working out with the ministry. so they will be the key partner of us to let them know how we can adopt some of those technology. at the same time, we'll be sending some of our students, our government employee, to learn and work in these research stations. our researcher will come here to learn the new technology -- at the same time, to see how we can adopt it to the context of afghanistan, where we are suffering from the lack of electricity, other issues. >> i think so many people have an image of afghanistan as a violent place where the only thing that's grown are poppies and the drug trade. >> people are engaged -- they have a life out there. they go to school, our girls going to school. our kids are going to school. we have hospitals, we -- and majority of people are engaged with agriculture. they grow some of the best product in the world -- organic. i was engaged indirectly with the roots of peace, that they were working with a company, exporting some of our product, fresh and dried fruit mainly -- it's famous, afghanistan is famous -- to india. india is a major market for us. with 1.2 billion populations, whatever we send is gonna be sold out there. when i was talking back to the farmer, i'd say, "no matter how much you produce, it's going to be sold." but we have to work on some of those standards, on the packaging, on the certification. for the past 12 years, a lot of good things has happened, and we need to talk more about the reality on the ground. and the reality on the ground is a lot of focus on the positive aspect, not so much on the insecurity or the poppy cultivation. a very small number of people are growing poppy, while majority is growing agriculture. so what we have to focus is agriculture. if we get that as our prime focus, we'll be able to change the views that are out there. >> all right. minister, thank you. >> thank you very much. >> pleasure to meet you. thank you, and best wishes for a successful trip. coming up next -- the devastating syrian refugee crisis and a look at how the international relief agency care is helping. also -- a look back at how care began during the biggest humanitarian crisis in history at the time. mone hundredts thousand times a day, sending oxygen to my muscles. again! so i can lift even the most demanding weight. take care of all your most important parts with centrum. now verified non gmo and gluten free. a farmer's market.ve what's in this kiester. a fire truck. even a marching band. and if i can get comfortable talking about this kiester, then you can get comfortable using preparation h. for any sort of discomfort in yours. preparation h. get comfortable with it. >> i was one of the very first care package recipients. and having just grown up and not having had any food, we were just emaciated -- i mean really thin. >> renate senter remembers the first care packages of powdered eggs, corned beef, and fruit preserves she received as a young german refugee, at the end of world war ii, as if they were manna from heaven. >> when i came home to my mother and showed her this, i said, "the americans did this!" it just left such an imprint, how americans can do this to the enemy. you know, i just said, "wow!" >> for a $10 donation to care back in december 1945, americans could buy and ship boxes of surplus army rations to postwar europe, that could feed 10 people during one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 20th century. >> [ sobbing ] >> flash forward to the greatest refugee crisis in europe and the middle east since world war ii -- more than 4 million displaced people and counting, the majority of them without any source of income, living on their own, outside of traditional refugee camps, and it's winter. >> this could be described as the new care package. it's an electronic voucher. >> the food vouchers work like any other debit card, but have a monthly limit per family and can only be used to buy food, hygiene, and household essentials. it's faster, better, and cheaper for delivering essential food and clothing than shipping, storing, and delivering actual care packages. >> these two families are new arrival from syria. >> care's relief workers in turkey -- many of them syrian refugees themselves -- make sure the voucher cards get to the neediest. care is also giving families a one-time winterization voucher card to buy heaters and coats and blankets to get them through this winter. >> so, by giving the voucher rather than giving a set kit of in-kind donations, it enables the family to choose what's right for them. >> these food vouchers started off with a value of $30 a month per person, until a shortfall of international funding forced the u.n. to twitter nearly a quarter million refugees that their vouchers were being cut off. today in turkey, this voucher is worth about $18 a month per person. that means 60¢ a day for food. >> like the original, these new care packages still depend on public donations. on the turkey/syria border, mike cerre reporting for abc news. >> abc7 has done a lot of work with care international, especially reporting on refugee situations around the world, and the heartbreaking images of syrian refugees has been going on for some time, and we want to talk more about this with the new president of care. so joining me right now in the studio is michelle nunn. michelle, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for the opportunity. >> i have to get right to syria because that is a crisis you're dealing with right now, and the numbers are staggering. >> yeah. the numbers are staggering, and i'm not sure even that the public recognizes -- first of all, you think about there are 12 million people in syria that are in need of humanitarian assistance and support. there are 4 million refugees outside of syria, living primarily in jordan and lebanon and turkey. and so there's an enormous need for international organizations like care and the larger global community to help supply support for shelter, for food, for education, the most basic necessities, to allow people to continue and to start to rebuild their lives. >> one of the things i remember when i was in kosovo with care in 1999 and 2001 were huge refugee camps with thousands of people in them. and they were clean, and they were well-organized, and it was a great structure for people who had no place to go. but that is completely different now with this group of refugees. the model is changing. >> the model is changing. there still are camps, and care is active in supporting those camps, but 80% of the refugees are actually living outside of the camps. they're living in local communities. and you can imagine the responsibility that this brings to a country like jordan, where 1 out of every 10 people living in jordan now is a refugee. in lebanon, it's one out of every four. so it would be the equivalent, for instance, in jordan, if 32 million people from canada came into the united states. so we need to think about how are we providing the support to enable these people -- most of whom actually want to stay in that region -- to, again, have the capacity to rebuild their lives there. >> because of the paris attacks, a lot of people -- not everyone -- are saying, "we don't want any syrian refugees in this country." people are so afraid that one might be a terrorist, so what do you say to that? >> well, i first of all tell people what they may not know, which is that it takes up to two years to move through the system of all of the security checks that enable people to become officially refugees coming to the united states. and we've only engaged, you know, maybe a little over a thousand syrian refugees in america to date. and so i think people keeping in mind that there are really strong, again, security measures that we are already taking to ensure we're safeguarding the american public, but we also have to understand that these are the most -- america is taking the most vulnerable of the refugees. so many of these refugees -- women and children. and they themselves are fleeing violence. so we encourage people to go to the website, to visit care.org, and that is a way for you to get a full sort of sense of the breadth and depth of care's work. >> thank you so much. thank you for the work you're doing. >> thank you for your support. >> in just a moment, we'll meet an israeli doctor on the front lines of the syrian refugee crisis. she and her team were literally pulling children out of the water as boats from syria tried to land on the shores of greece. >> my guests today are the consulate general of israel in san francisco, dr. andy david -- also dr. iris adler, a doctor and a leading member of an emergency medical team known as israaid. and i want to thank you both very much for being here. >> thank you, cheryl. >> and, dr. adler, i know that you have been working on the beaches in greece, helping syrian refugees. and you don't like that term "refugees." >> i don't like this term actually because, for me, they are not refugees. they are people that had to leave their homes because of the war that is going on there. and for us, they are peoples with names and faces and families and life stories and jobs they left behind. so this is how i see them, and this is how i would like other people to see them. >> you deployed twice, so how long were you working there? and tell us some of your stories. >> so, i was volunteering in greece for two times. the first time, i came back to israel actually, and, unfortunately, tragedies happen there on weekly basis. and the most devastating one happened on the 28th of october, when two boats started to sink at the same time and more than 70 people drowned. many of them were kids and babies because they're the ones who are not able to swim. and that occasion made me decide to go back for the second time. so i have been there for almost two month, and our team of israaid -- doctors and nurses and social workers -- are there for already six months now. >> wow. dr. david, you are on sort of a cross-country tour with your colleagues who are involved in israaid. what do you want people to know about what is israaid, and what is it doing? >> well, israaid, first and foremost, is a humanitarian assistance organization with israeli volunteers. they work all over the world, not just in greece, not just in europe, not just in the middle east, but also in japan and even in the united states with hurricane katrina in the past. they just represent the values that i feel very strongly for, and this is to help anyone in need and try to do the best they can. >> dr. adler, you have a number of doctors who rotate in and out of these programs. what was it like for you on the beaches? and can you describe it, that you would see these waves of people coming in literally on waves of water? >> so, i was in there in october, november, when we had between 7,000 to 10,000 people arriving a day. >> a day. >> a day. it's a huge amount of people, overwhelming, and we had to react. we were two teams of doctors and nurses, both jewish and arabs, christians and muslims from israel, working together. and we were basically one of the only teams that could speak fluent arabic with the people who are coming from the boats, which was very important. you have to understand that the journey is supposed to take one hour and a half, but, many times, it took longer, even six, seven, eight hours, because of the weather, because they were coming in the middle of the night, because of the high waves. they used to come extremely wet. many people suffered from hypothermia, from anxiety attacks, and we had to deal with it. and unfortunately, sometimes we had even worse cases when people were drowning, and we had to try and do something about it. >> i just can't even imagine. and here you have a multifaith group of doctors greeting syrians, and syrians are not taught good things about israelis. >> well, they think that we are their enemies, and we're not. we are their neighbors. and, hopefully, the work that iris was fortunate to do will help them understand that we are not their enemies and we can live together in the future. >> and certainly you're proving that. >> i have to say that we are an apolitical ngo, and it's important for us because, as andy mentioned, we are working in 19 countries around the world in israaid. and for us, working together, jews and arabs, was a very -- first of all, it's very normal for us because we are used to doing it in israel, but also being there on the beaches created such a great connection with these people. and i have to say that some of them were surprised at the beginning. we are working with the flag of israel on our shirt. they were surprised, but they were so happy and thankful, and we received such warm reactions and hugs, and we are still in touch with many of them till today, with families that we helped. so, for me, it was such an inspiring...experience. and, you know, we think that, in the middle of this horrible tragedy, it's also an opportunity to build bridges between people that normally would never meet. >> all right, we have a lot more to talk about. we have to take a break, but don't go away. our guests are going to remain here for the next segment, so stay with us. we'll be right back. >> we're continuing our conversation about thehe refugee crisis in syria that has spilled over many borders. we're talking with the consulate general of israel in san francisco, dr. andy david, and also dr. iris adler. she's a doctor and a leading member of an emergency medical team know as israaid. and, dr. david, the topic of syrian refugees has now become part of the debate both in this country and around the world because the refugees are spilling over to all sorts of borders. how is that changing the conversation? >> well, i think it's also important to know that many refugees are still in syria, internally displaced. and that problem is not solved yet, creating a safe zone over there. that should be the next step. those who are getting on the boats, maybe they're better off already, but there is a huge problem of child prostitution, for example, in the middle east among those refugees. many families lost their husbands, their fathers. the women and their daughters are helpless, are vulnerable. so there's so many troubles, so many problems over there that need to be dealt with. and the like-minded countries, i think, should contribute whatever they can to that problem. >> it seems as though israel is doing its part because you have stepped up with your israaid, and i know that there are other international teams -- including from america -- who are helping. you are there. you're on the front lines, on the beaches. you're delivering babies, i understand, too? >> we were helping with the delivery of a few babies over there, yes. >> wow. >> it's actually very exciting, and it's good to have some points of light in between of all these hard stories. >> i don't think people realize that the people who made it on the boats had to pay money to smugglers to get on those boats. >> they have to pay between $1,000 to $3,000 each, and this is an industry. people just think about 1 million refugees coming. each one is paying minimum of $1,000. >> and that's all they have. >> and, usually, that's all they have. they come with nothing. their bags were thrown to the water. they come only with their wet clothes on them, and they had to pay the money they had to get on this boat to try and get to a better life. >> so, now these refugees -- you were talking, dr. david, about how they're internally displaced and there are refugees in several states around syria. how does the world get compassion for these people? you know, what do we do? >> well, a lot of people do get compassionate about them. i'll talk about israel, for example. jordan has a huge problem with refugees -- over a million refugees in jordan. so israel is transferring more water to jordan -- in a very dry area, of course. so water is an asset, and israel is helping jordan just by delivering this water. israel has established a field hospital in the golan heights where injured syrians can come and get treated -- no questions asked. and after they're treated, they can go back. so many international organizations are working -- the red cross, other governments. so everybody's trying to do what they can. it is a big problem. >> it's overwhelming. >> it's overwhelming. >> you're talking about working with germany now because there are so many -- germany seems to be getting all the refugees, or certainly a high number of them. so the programs in germany, can you talk about that? >> so, as we said before, we are an humanitarian organization. we don't deal with the political questions. we are just seeing that there is a crisis, and we would like to help these people. and we now understand that the main problem is to help integrate 1 million refugees in germany. and we are starting a project that is going to last for a few years, probably, with the jewish community in germany and with the german government, to work in the refugee shelters across the country. and i think it's very important, first of all, to help treat them for their trauma and their ptsd -- they're suffering from major traumas, many of them -- and both on the educational parts to give these people hope and a way to integrate. >> and, dr. david, are you seeing any sort of partnership forming to help refugees internationally? >> well, i think it's too early to judge that, but certainly there are coalitions -- coalitions of like-minded, coalitions of organizations, of aid workers. and i think that also there is more collaboration now between the countries. between the e.u. and turkey, for example, there was an agreement that was signed very recently, and we'll still have to see how that works. but at the end of the day, these are people, they're families, it's about the individual, and individuals can help other individuals. so, when you think about a million people, people say, "okay, what can i do about that?" and it is overwhelming, but when we're knowing that there is a child and there is a woman and