With the rising cost of education, many families are left wondering if they can even afford to send their children off to college. The Asian community, however, is known to endure many obstacles in order to ensure an education for their children. Why? College is seen as a necessary step towards a better life- one in which parents will do nearly anything to achieve.
This appears to be the case for Jiagu Zhu and Jianying Liu, a couple in Hengyang, China. The couple realized early on that they would have to work hard to get their children into college in hopes of an easier future. To reach their dream the husband and wife rented a factory unit in 2004 and got to work.
How was the determined couple planning to send their sons to college? By collecting and recycling over 180kg of plastic (about 7,000 plastic bottles) each day.
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According to RocketNews24, the couple must both work tirelessly everyday to make a living. Mr. Jiagu Zhu rides through the streets on his tricycle and alleys to collect discarded plastic and Mrs. Jianying Liu separates and cleans the collected bottles.
“Having it tough is a fortune in disguise, as after the bitter times there will be sweet times. After putting in hard work, you’ll reap good results. We’re countrymen, there’s nothing we’re afraid of. We’re not afraid of leading a hard life, we’re not afraid of exhausting work, we can carve out a happy life with our bare hands,” says Mr. Zhu.
After ten years of hard work, the couple has been able to send both their sons to college and one to Germany to pursue his PhD. To them, all their hard work was entirely worth it.
