A man with a disability but a strong will leads 14 people with disabilities onto the road to prosperity

At noon on July 7, in Yahuang Village, Daomei Village Committee, Jiuzhou Town, Haikou City, the weather was somewhat hot. 25-year-old Meng Xuying, who has an intellectual disability, and her husband Huang Guangjun sat beside Huang Guangxing, a man with a disability, and struck up a conversation. "Once the chicken coops and rabbit hutches are built, we'll all join in the farming and work together," Huang Guangxing said, filling Huang Guangjun and his wife with confidence.

A man with a disability but a strong will: making a name for himself in beekeeping

58-year-old Huang Guangxing, a slightly thin man, is from Poxiu Village, Yaxiu Village Committee, Jiuzhou Town, Haikou. An accident in 1995 left his left hand disabled. Though it brought inconvenience to his life, it did not in the least affect his ability to build a good life.

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 have never sold a single drop of honey at the market," Huang Guangxing said frankly. Around Jiuzhou Town, everyone knows him well; each time honey is produced, customers come to him on their own to buy it.

Keeping bees well and producing good honey is no easy task, and it is highly technical work. Huang Guangxing recalls that before 2008, his beekeeping was small in scale and low in yield. "I just wouldn't accept it. Why couldn't I keep bees well?" Huang Guangxing resolved to learn beekeeping techniques and often exchanged ideas with farmers who came from the north to Hainan to keep bees.

As his skills became more polished, honey yields 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. Beekeeping has become his main source of income over the years, enabling him to afford to send his two daughters to university.

In Huang Guangxing's view, as long as you put in the work, even a person with a disability can live a good life.

Giving back to society: helping people with disabilities start businesses together

Developing farming is the path Huang Guangxing has chosen to keep pursuing. 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 to Huang Guangxing one after another to learn beekeeping from him. And he was quite enthusiastic, offering technical guidance. Today, besides himself, the cooperative has attracted 14 local friends with disabilities to join and develop farming together.

"Moving the queen bee is a technical difficulty for many beekeepers with disabilities," Huang Guangxing said. 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 inspect the bees kept by Meng Xuying, a person with a disability, and her husband. Seven or eight beehives are placed in a corner of a wall, and they have become an important source of income for Meng Xuying's family, as she has a severe disability. "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 raises 8 sheep. Meng Xuying's husband, Huang Guangjun, said, "The scale is still a bit small. I've always wanted to expand into other farming to raise our income, but we're hampered by a shortage of funds."

Earlier this year, the Provincial Disabled Persons' Foundation 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-farming base in a grove, pheasants hear the whistle and dash back to their nests. "There are 1,000 pheasants here, raised by the cooperative; next, once the chicken coops are built, we'll expand the scale and raise free-range chickens. The total scale of chicken farming will reach 10,000 birds," Huang Guangxing said. Next, they will also raise rabbits.

Once the farming facilities are fully built, Huang Guangxing said, he will mobilize the cooperative's members with disabilities to further discuss ways of cooperating, adopting a shareholding model to develop farming together and increase income.