20/04/2013 Reporters

Welcome to Reporters. From here, we send out correspondence to bring you

the best stories from across the globe. This week, a blight on young

lives, we report from northern Nigeria on the toxic legacy of gold

mining. We meet the teenage Syrian graffiti artist whose slogan is

helped ignite the revolution. And revving up the crowds in South

Africa, we find ourselves going round in circles in Johannesburg. In

northern Nigeria, hundreds of children's have -- of them have died

and thousands have been infected in one of the worst cases of lead

poisoning in the world. 460 children under the age of five have died

recently in one province where gold is being illegally mined. This

report from one of the most worst affected -- from one of the worst

affected villages. Some of the worst affected victims of the lead

poisoning crisis. Symptoms include paralysis and even

brain damage. In this village, this girl can neither here nor speak. Her

mother says that they used to process goalscorer at home and this

is how her daughter was contaminated. -- gold ore. There are

rich gold deposits here. These miners take incredible risks. They

spend days on the ground, trying to dig themselves out of poverty. They

bring the rocks here for processing but there is a high concentration of

toxic lead in the dust that is released. Experts say the levels are

the highest in the world. A lot of the processing used to happen in the

village year. Even now, the men are bringing the dust back home on tools

and clothes. For the children, this creates a poisonous playground. At

least eight villages in the area have been contaminated. It is one of

the world 's worst cases of lead poisoning. Hundreds of children have

died and thousands more have been left needing urgent medical

attention. Here, that includes more than half of all children under the

age of six. This treatment centre is run by Doctors without Borders.

Children receive medication to clear the lead from their bodies. This can

take up to 15 years. Aid workers worry that the government might not

have the capacity to take over this treatment. The federal ministry of

health is not active on the ground. The funds have not been released for

medical intervention. We have not seen them. Let poisoning is a

convert it to treatment and it needs a lot of training. The government

denies the accusation and puts the blame back on the community itself.

This is a man-made disaster. It is not a natural disaster. Illegal

mining is undeniably the reason for this. We cannot sit back and take no

action. The government continues to take steps to protect lives. Efforts

are underway to clean up the environment. Toxic soil is replaced

with clean earth. It is slow work, partly because they do not have the

equipment that the government was supposed to supply. Medical help can

only be given once all the poisonous soil has been removed. And that has

not happened in this village. Aid agencies and villagers are asking

why the government has not been treating this as an emergency,

because that is what it is. Gold mining may be lucrative, but lead is

proving to be a highly damaging byproduct. As long as mining is

allowed to continue, thousands of children will pay a high price.

The conflict in Syria is now in its third year. It is thought that

70,000 people have lost their lives during that time. The catalyst seems

to be the moment when young schoolboys painted anti-regime

graffiti on a wall in the city of Deraa. Their subsequent treatment,

including torture and death, caused outrage. In this city, schoolboys

helped ignite a revolution. On this non-descript wall, the spread of the

most daring words imaginable, a call for the end of the regime. Two years

on, many of responsible for the graffiti are scattered in textile.

-- many of those responsible. The boys of Deraa hold hands, the sign

of the friendship forged through these remarkable events. They were

13 and 14 when they saw the Arab spring unfolding. TRANSLATION: We

came out of school and saw the names of these countries, so we wrote our

names on the wall and called for the downfall of President Asad's resume.

What were you feeling? It was refund. -- it was for fun. 15 other

boys were arrested and tortured, and that led to the biggest

demonstrations the regime had ever faced. Deraa became the cockpit of

revolt. For some, it meant torture and death. This boy was brutally

beaten. His body was mutilated. This boy, also 15, was tortured and

killed. On both sides of this conflict, the young have been

traumatised. The UN has warned of a lost generation of Syrian children.

TRANSLATION: My childhood has been lost. Many houses have been

destroyed, including mine. I want to go back to Syria.

Children from Deraa are still fleeing. These boys attend the UN

school at the refugee camp in Jordan. The schools they left behind

are unable to function. Moussa once to be a maths teacher and speaks

hopefully of going home. -- wants to be. TRANSLATION: I am encouraging

myself and my family not to be scared. And not to be surprised by

what we will find when we go back. When we go back. There is more

certainty among children than adults. They have suffered much, but

something of the original spirit of Deraa has survived.

Revved up engines, fast cars and daring stunts used to be a ritual

associated with South African gangsters in the 1990s. Since being

made legal, motor spinning has become one of the country's

fastest-growing spectator sports. We volunteered to get into the

passenger seat at an event in Johannesburg.

If you work in driving instructor, look away now. -- if you are a

driving instructor. In South Africa, spinning is the big craze. This

gives burning rubber and new meaning. Within minutes, reckless

stunt drivers called spinners take their driving passion to gearing

levels, in spectacular fashion. -- gearing levels. This started many

years ago but in actual fact, it was one specific township. If you look

at South Africa as a whole, almost every township has got a spinning

crew, and a spinning legacy. There will be someone who is regarded as a

legend. Iron in the car with one of South Africa's finest spinners.

Because I'm in the car with him, he has promised to be gentle. I'm not

sure about that right now! If it had not been for the sport, he says his

life would have turned out differently. It started with me

stealing my father's are. That is how according to the sport. I'm used

go around block. -- I used to go. It keeps me busy, but guys in the

neighbourhood were doing the wrong things. Drugs, housebreaking,

stealing. I've enjoyed the sport. It kept me off the streets. -- I

enjoyed the sport. Spinning has become a legalised spectator sport.

It started as a ritual in the countries -- in the country's

townships. In the 90s, when a gangster was killed, his friends

would steal a car, spin it at his funeral, and then set it alight as a

sign of respect. Behind-the-scenes, an army of

mechanics are working constantly to maintain the high standards of these

spinning machines. But it is not just about the revving engines. It