Desert blooms from act of kindness

Search for old friend

Yin, a pioneering environmentalist, began her quest to save the desert in the 1980s.

At 19, she married a man who lived in the Maowusu sandy area, and moved from Shaanxi province. Life was tough for the new bride. Her first Shaanxi home was a cellar half-buried in sand.

But she was determined to improve the environment, so the couple began planting saplings they'd brought with money from their own labor. Yin declared: "I'd rather die planting trees, than live buried by the desert."

It is estimated that Yin and her husband planted saplings across nearly 2,667 hectares between 1985 and 1999, according to Chinese media reports.

Over the next few decades, she planted more than 8 million trees and transformed over 70,000 mu (or 4,667 hectares) of barren desert into a lush landscape, according to People's Daily.

Sakolsky said he was amazed to learn Yin and other workers did all the work by hand. "They were digging the ground, digging with a stick, and planting; (there was) no machinery, none," he said.

In 2000, Yin was named a National Model Worker by China's State Council. In 2017, she gave a speech at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

But she never forgot the American teacher's kindness "at the most difficult time", she told Chinese media.

After his teaching assignment in China finished, Sakolsky returned to the US and lost touch with Yin. He briefly returned to China in 2004 to teach alongside Bai again.

On May 16 this year, Yin, now age 60, made a video and posted it online, hoping to find Sakolsky.

"Mr Sakolsky, we would like to invite you to come back to China to witness how the $5,000 you donated many years ago has become a large forest," she said.

The video went viral and Sakolsky was inundated with emails and texts. Some were from past students.

They all asked one question: "Are you the teacher?"

"I thought it was a joke!" he said. It was only when Bai called him that he knew it was real.

Two days later, Yin phoned him. Sakolsky said she had learned a little bit of English to converse with him. "She wanted to say 'hello' and 'thank you'," he said.

Sakolsky teared up recalling the conversation and the rekindling of the friendship. "I was stunned that she called," he said.

Yin told him: "You are my brother. I used the $5,000 you donated to plant a forest. When will you come and see it? I really want to see you." "I will try," Sakolsky replied.

He admitted when she called him "brother" he became very emotional. "There's not words to tell you. I lost it. I mean, I never thought I would ever hear from her (again)," he said.