What brought a Chinese desert fighter and an American teacher together?

It was Oct 15, and I was at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, witnessing FAO honor 100 Women Heroes in Agrifood Systems and Rural Development. Ninety-nine names had been published on its website well in advance, but the organizers had kept the final recipient a secret.

It was a clever but also risky decision, I have to say. Keeping the name secret would help attract global attention, but whoever was chosen would have to live up to the expectations created by such an unusual announcement.

My doubts disappeared the moment the name and photograph of Yin Yuzhen appeared on the giant screen. Huge applause erupted. Journalists and delegates alike rushed forward, hoping to catch a closer glimpse of the Chinese woman who had devoted decades to fighting desertification. The applause quickly turned into a rhythm, with people chanting her name in different accents.

Accompanied by FAO director-general Qu Dongyu, Yin made her way onto the stage.

There she was, standing before an international audience, looking much as she might have looked back home in the countryside of northern China, wearing a dark green top and gray-black trousers. She struggled to work two English words, "brother" and "sister", into her Mandarin acceptance speech, but with such a heavy accent that few caught them.

But that didn't matter. Everyone in the hall knew her story with 8 million trees planted at the Mu Us Sandy Land, an achievement whose weight everyone understood beyond words.

Ronald Sakolsky, a retired American teacher who helped her in the 1990s and kept a 27-year-long friendship with her, joined her. Qu joked that Sakolsky was not eligible for an award honoring women, but had prepared a special souvenir for him.

Sakolsky laughed along with everyone else, but soon found himself in tears as he looked back on how they first met and what they had achieved together. The two spoke onstage, revisiting their past, reflecting on the present and imagining the future, thus turning the ceremony into a deeply moving reunion.

Yet for me, it also raised a question: Yin and Sakolsky's first encounter lasted only a few days, during which Sakolsky, having raised $5,000 for tree planting, visited her to see how she did it. Sakolsky eventually returned to his own life, while Yin went back to planting trees. They did not see each other again for 27 years, until they reunited in China earlier this year.

Yet when they met again, the warmth and understanding between them seemed entirely undiminished.

How could two people who had spent so little time together, and then stayed apart for nearly three decades, still share such a powerful connection?

After interviewing both of them, I think I found the answer: They are both idealists. OK, if the word appears too grand, let's call them people determined to do things well.

A rural woman confronting a desert, Yin has known since the first day she planted trees that every additional tree meant a little more greenery and a little less sand. She has never been taught any grand environmental theory; yet she never lost the belief that if she kept working, the landscape around her could eventually change.

Sakolsky, an American teacher, heard about someone trying to make the planet a better place. He believed such an effort deserved support, even if the person undertaking it lived thousands of kilometers from his home.

For Yin, planting trees was simply the right thing to do. For Sakolsky, helping someone plant them was equally obvious.

In a sense, both were stubborn. Once they had decided what was worth doing, they were determined to do it.

That's what linked them together, across national boundaries, languages and cultures. Such a friendship doesn't need frequent meetings, shared professional interests or expectations of personal reward. It is sustained by a shared belief that ordinary people can improve the world through their own actions.

More importantly, idealism, or the strong belief that one can do things well, is contagious. In our exclusive interview, when recalling 1999, Sakolsky said that he didn't think Yin could succeed until he saw what she was doing with his own eyes. And he is not the only one inspired by Yin, who said the award not only belongs to her alone, but also to the many "brothers and sisters" who helped.

Those "brothers and sisters" include people from the local government, nearby communities, and volunteers from over 20 countries and regions. Many didn't believe someone could plant trees in the sandy land first, but later joined Yin in her resolve.

They, too, were inspired by Yin, and have become idealists ready to inspire others.

Perhaps after spending so much of her life planting trees, Yin simply cannot stop. On Oct 16, the day after the ceremony, she joined Sakolsky and Qu in planting another tree at FAO headquarters.

It was World Food Day, and delegates attending the celebrations gathered around, eager to see this legendary Chinese desert fighter at work. Hopefully, when they return home, more people will continue the path of inspiration.

Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to meet Yin in person, but perhaps that is not necessary. Everyone who continues working toward a worthwhile ideal, however modest the effort may seem, carries something of the same spirit.

And every tree planted, wherever it grows, is another reminder that the world can be made a little better by people who believe it is worth trying.