Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Windows on the World for the week commencing 16 April 2012

Monday 16 April: Growing Old

Peter Day explores the challenges of an ageing population. As baby boomers start turning 65, many countries are quite suddenly growing old. The trend means big changes for the economy, healthcare, social life and a challenge to the assumptions by which we have lived life for the past two centuries.

Tuesday 17 April: Forcible Sterilisation In Uzbekistan

Natalia Antelava reports from Uzbekistan where women have become the new target of one of the most repressive regimes on earth. She uncovers evidence that women are being sterilised, often without their knowledge, in an effort by the government to control the population. Only a few brave Uzbeks have been willing to speak, often telling horrific stories the government don't want told.

Wednesday 18 April: Michael Frayn - British writer

Stephen Sackur speaks to one of Britain's finest writing talents, whose creativity defies a simple label. Michael Frayn is a renowned playwright whose work has ranged from high farce to cerebral intensity. But he's also an acclaimed novelist and an accomplished translator from the Russian of Chekhov and Tolstoy.

Thursday 19 April: Chatsworth - A Chance For Change

Set up during apartheid in the 1960s, Chatsworth is an Indian township near Durban which has been devastated in recent years by 'sugars' - a highly addictive cut of heroin, mixed with rat poison to prevent blood clots and any other powdered household goods - available to bulk it up and make it cheap.  Heroin addictions are notoriously difficult to treat, and the figure quoted for long-term recovery is below 10%. But in Chatsworth Sam Pillay, founder of the Anti-Drug Forum, thinks he has come up with a combination of detox drugs and family therapy rehabilitation which he wants the world to know about. It's early days but he estimates that so far their success rate is in the region of 60 - 80%.