Jia Wenqi (54) and Jia Haixia (55), who live in a rural area in China, have been friends for almost as long as they can remember - all the way back to their childhood. In fact, they are so close that they consider each other brothers. But there is something very unusual about both of them that makes their friendship unique: Wenqi has no arms and Haixia is blind.
Due to their disabilities, there have not been many jobs available to the two in their small village. For a long time, they had to make do with small welfare payments from the government. Shortly after Haixia went blind in 2000, the two decided to team up and make a living by planting trees in areas ravaged by the effects of booming industrialization.
While industries in China have grown a lot in recent decades, this growth has negatively impacted the environment in many ways. The devastation has gotten so out of hand that the government is unable to fully address the problem despite extensive efforts to do so. As a result, there are areas of China that have practically been transformed into wastelands and now require a lot of environmental restoration, which is exactly what Wenqi and Haixia have spent the last 15 years doing.
The task has been particularly arduous for the two "brothers" as they have had to redirect waterways to barren areas and care for the trees they've planted on a daily basis. The job is extremely physically demanding and having a disability makes it twice as difficult for the two. In addition, it takes a long time to see the fruits of their labor: Of the 800 trees they planted in their first year, only 2 survived. Nonetheless, they have persevered and made a substantial difference in their village and the surrounding area. Originally, their plan to plant trees was meant to be a way to earn a little extra money and do good for the environment. Now it has turned into a larger effort to restore the natural landscape in and around their home in the Chinese countryside.
The video below provides a more detailed look into their incredible friendship and their extraordinary accomplishments:
Source:
