Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi are probably the most hardworking and dedicated people in the world. Haixia is blind, whilst Wenqi is a double a...
Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi are probably the most hardworking and dedicated people in the world. Haixia is blind, whilst Wenqi is a double amputee with no arms. But this, as well as their advanced age, didn’t stop them from coming together and planting thousands of trees over a period of more than 12 years.
We would like to share the story of two ordinary men who have once again proved that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
They met years ago, when both of them were looking for work. Haixia recalls one time when his son came home and said, ’Father, I saw some boy peeling an orange today. The smell was so delicious, I could almost taste it!’ That’s when Haixia realised that they could no longer live as they did, and that he needed to make some money.
The two friends set off to work. They wanted to help protect and preserve the environment that surrounds their village. They rented a patch of land along the river for free and began planting trees there.
Every day at 7 a.m., they set off to work, armed with only a hammer and an iron rod. Still poor, the pair don’t have enough money to buy saplings, so they rely on the cuttings from grown trees which they replant. Which, bearing in mind the men’s disabilities, is not an easy task.
Haixia climbs the trees to cut off the boughs that will be planted in the holes he will dig in the ground. Wenqi takes care of watering them. ’I’m his hands,’ says Haixia. ’And he’s my eyes. We’re a good team.’
So, thanks to the two friends’ amazing efforts, a patch of once lifeless land is now covered in delightful green trees, with birds happily chirping away among the branches. ’We really did something good here,’ smiles Jia Haixia.
Source: http://brightside.me/
