Huang Guangxing, disabled but strong-willed, leads 14 people with disabilities to prosperity
At noon on July 7, in Yahuang Village, Daomei Village Committee, Jiuzhou Town, Haikou City, the weather was a bit hot. Meng Xuying, 25, a woman with intellectual disabilities, and her husband Huang Guangjun sat beside Huang Guangxing, a man with disabilities, and chatted. "Once the chicken coops and rabbit hutches are built, we'll all join in the farming and work together." These words from Huang Guangxing filled Huang Guangjun and his wife with confidence.
Disabled but strong-willed: making a name in beekeeping
Huang Guangxing, 58, is from Poxiu Village, Yaxiu Village Committee, Jiuzhou Town, Haikou, and is rather thin. An accident in 1995 left his left hand disabled. Although it brought inconvenience to his life, it did not affect his creation of a better life in the slightest.
At Huang Guangxing's farming base, more than 100 beehives are neatly arranged. He and his friends with disabilities discuss beekeeping techniques.
"I've kept bees for a full 36 years, and I've never sold a single drop of honey at the market." Huang Guangxing said frankly that around Jiuzhou Town, everyone knows him well, and every time honey is produced, customers come to him on their own to buy it.
Keeping bees well and producing good honey is not an easy thing, and it is also highly technical. Huang Guangxing remembers that before 2008, his beekeeping scale was small and his output was low. "I just wasn't convinced. Why couldn't I keep bees well?" Huang Guangxing secretly made up his mind to learn beekeeping techniques, and often discussed and exchanged ideas with farmers who came from the north to Hainan to keep bees.
His techniques became better and better, and honey production grew higher and higher. "Take keeping 50 hives of bees as an example. If the weather is good, the flowers are good, and the bees are kept well, more than 2,000 jin can be produced in a year." Huang Guangxing said that beekeeping has become his main income over these years, allowing him to afford to send his 2 daughters to university.
In Huang Guangxing's view, as long as you put in the work, even people with disabilities can live a good life.
Giving back to society: helping people with disabilities start businesses together
Developing farming is the path Huang Guangxing chose to keep walking. In 2010, he and friends with disabilities set up a cooperative together. Seeing that beekeeping could improve their lives, people with disabilities from the surrounding area came one after another to Huang Guangxing to learn beekeeping from him. And he was quite enthusiastic, giving technical guidance. Today, in addition to him, the cooperative has attracted 14 local friends with disabilities to join, developing farming together.
"Moving the queen bee is a technical difficulty for many beekeepers with disabilities." Huang Guangxing said that whenever someone asks for help, he always helps free of charge, and often gives away queen bees.
On the 7th, Huang Guangxing came to Yahuang Village, Daomei Village Committee, Jiuzhou Town, to check on the bees kept by Meng Xuying, a person with disabilities, and her husband. Seven or eight hives of bees were placed in a corner of a wall, and these have also become an important source of income for Meng Xuying's family, as she has severe disabilities. "Meng Xuying's life is difficult. As a friend, I help as much as I can." Huang Guangxing said.
Besides keeping bees, Meng Xuying's family also raises 8 goats. Meng Xuying's husband Huang Guangjun said, "The scale is still a bit small. Before this, I always wanted to expand into other farming to increase income, but I was troubled by a shortage of funds."
At the beginning of this year, the Provincial Foundation for Persons with Disabilities provided Huang Guangxing's team with 100,000 yuan in support funds, bringing them a ray of hope. At present, Huang Guangxing is leading the cooperative's members with disabilities in building chicken coops and rabbit hutches.
At a chicken-raising base in a grove, the mountain chickens, hearing the whistle, run back to their nests. "There are 1,000 mountain chickens here, raised by the cooperative. Next, once the chicken coops are built, we'll expand the scale and raise local chickens. The total scale of chicken raising will reach 10,000." Huang Guangxing introduced that next, they will also raise rabbits.
Once the farming facilities are fully built, Huang Guangxing said, he will mobilise the cooperative's members with disabilities to further discuss ways of cooperating, adopt a shareholding model, and develop farming together to increase income.