A 70-year-old veteran with a physical disability has planted about 17,000 trees in 19 years

Planting a tree is, at first glance, easy and simple, but in reality it requires a lot of effort. Even an adult and healthy man needs a lot of strength to dig a hole, fill it with water, plant a sapling and bury it. And what about the elderly people…

Ma Sanxiao is a 70-year-old resident of Mayu Village and has been doing the noble work of planting trees for 20 years. During this period, he has created a huge forest.

Ever since he was a child, Ma wanted to join the military. So right after high school, he joined the army. He served only three years, because he caught an infection and eventually he got septicaemia.

When he returned home, he worked as a teacher and later as a farmer. Gradually the infection set in and the man had to have his legs amputated.

Ma’s family was in deep debt at the time, as they spent a lot of money on his treatment, hoping to save at least one leg.

But the man did not lose heart. He decided to help the family out of debt, and began planting trees.

Ever since 2000, at dawn, Sanxiao gets on his moped and goes to work outside the village. Ma takes a pickaxe, a shovel, and food with him for the day. Once there, he removes his prostheses, puts on his gloves, and crawls to plant trees.

In addition to the heaviness, it’s a pretty dangerous occupation. Once Ma was working on a mountainside, he couldn’t hold on and fell. As a result of that fall, the man had both stumps flattened. Another time he lost the little finger on his hand.

The local authorities also learned of this noble deed. They later paid off all of Sanxiao’s loans. Still, Ma did not give up the activity.

Now he does it in gratitude. The man says he will plant trees until his last day.

Sooner or later, Ma will leave this world. But for a very long time, his memory will live on in the form of thousands of trees. Bow low to this spiritually strong man!