Having suffered from polio as an infant, Ma Zhengqing was one of 200 disabled children who received a scholarship, enabling him to start school aged ten.
We find Ma Zhengqing, now 26, waiting for us at his old primary school. He shyly introduces us to his wife – the two recently married. She is also disabled.
Ma Zhengqing lacks confidence and speaks softly as he tells us repeatedly how life has not been easy. He dropped out after the first year of junior middle school as the facilities in the school were not accessible enough for him – for example there were too many stairs in the building – and he lacked the additional learning support he needed.
He now looks after sheep and goats for his brother and dreams of opening a small store selling clothes in his township. He remains limited by his poor mobility. Still he is more fortunate than others – his father and brother are trying to help him build a house, which should be completed soon if he gets some financial support from the local government’s special budget for the disabled.
He appreciates his limited education experience very much as GBEP gave him the chance to visit Beijing, and reading enables him to know the "big world outside". He wants to have a boy who will be able to help him to do things. Ma Zhengqing hopes his son will finish primary school so that one day he can realise his father's dream of opening a clothes shop.