Ren Ying writes on the blackboard with a chalk extender, made by a tree branch and a syringe, as her hands have atrophied, Sept 7, 2010. Ren Ying has been a teacher and headmaster of a primary school for 12 years in a village named Renzhuang, East China's Anhui province. The school now has six grades and more than 200 students, compared with a 24-student preschool class in 1998. Ren was paralyzed after falling victim to rheumatoid arthritis in 1986 and failed the college entrance examination due to the handicap. After attempting suicide twice, she began self-study and running a school for children in the village. [Xinhua] |