In northeast China, in the small village of Yeli, there was a bare embankment beaten by the wind and the floods of the river. Today that same stretch of land is covered by thousands of trees. What changed the landscape was not machinery or large investments, but two men with serious disabilities who decided to work together.
Their names are Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi. The first lost his sight completely in 2000 after a factory accident that compromised his only functioning eye. The second has been armless since the age of three, due to a high voltage electrical discharge. Schoolmates and childhood friends, they found themselves as adults sharing a difficult situation and few job prospects.
“I am his hands, he is my eyes”
Their response to their country’s problems was not the
resignation. They rented eight hectares of land from the local government with a specific goal: to plant trees to protect the village from floods and earn a small income over time. The pact stipulated that the cultivated trees would become theirs.
Every day they travel the same route. Wenqi drives through the woods, Haixia holds the empty sleeve of his friend’s jacket to orient himself. When they have to cross the river, the blind man climbs onto his companion’s shoulders to avoid being dragged by the current. “I am his hands, he is my eyes“, they often repeat. It is not a symbolic phrase, it is the exact description of their working method.
Ten thousand trees and a bet won
At first no one believed they would make it. The first year almost all the seedlings died due to drought. But they insisted. To obtain cuttings from the tallest trees, Wenqi crouches down and allows his friend to climb onto his shoulders. It is a balance built on absolute trust.
After more than ten years the result is visible: around 10,000 trees survived, another 3,000 did not make it. The once arid area now attracts birds and wildlife and provides a natural flood barrier. Their fellow villagers, initially sceptical, now help them with tools, water and new plants. Their story is not about miracles. It talks about daily work, concrete collaboration and how two limits, added together, can become a force capable of redesigning an entire landscape.
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