偏远地区残疾人克服困难并非遥不可及 Overcoming disabilities in far-flung areas

Gyam Dorlgyee didn’t even know prosthetic hands existed until he had one.

八岁的Gyam Dorlgyee在拥有义肢之前，并不知道这种东西的存在。

That said, the 8-year-old boy’s nomadic family couldn’t have afforded a conventional prosthetic, which costs about 150,000 yuan ($21,700) on average. And children outgrow them quickly.

一般而言，传统义肢大约价值15万元，令这个牧民家庭无力负担，而且义肢无法满足孩子残肢的生长速度。

His nomadic family earns about 2,000 yuan a year leasing their pastures to herders.

这个家庭的年收入只有大约2000元。

But 3D-printed hands like the one Gyam Dorlgyee received for free from the Chinese social enterprise Hands On earlier this month cost about 1,000 yuan to produce, although their capabilities are relatively limited.

本月初，社会组织Hands On为这个孩子免费提供了一只价值约1000元的3D打印手臂，不过这只手臂的功能相对有限。

He was astounded when he first tried it on.

Gyam Dorlgyee第一次试戴义肢的时候很震惊。

“It’s like a new hand,” he says.

他说：“这好像新的一只手。”

“I can’t use it to do homework. But I can hold many things with it like cups. I feel more confident and happier.”

“虽然我不能用这只手做作业，但可以拿住杯子之类的东西。我感到更加自信和快乐了。”

Hands On works with volunteers to provide training in printing 3D prosthetics, especially for children, in such cities as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It uses open-source designs, enabling anyone to innovate to develop better prostheses.

Hands On与志愿者合作，在北京、上海和广州等地，提供3D义肢，特别是儿童义肢的打印培训。该组织使用开源设计，让大家都有机会创新发展更好的义肢。

The group had donated nearly 100 prostheses for 55 children and trained 250 volunteers, 10 of whom had mastered the design technology, as of October. Its work has won recognition from the United Nations Development Programme.

该组织去年10月时，为55位儿童捐赠了近100个义肢，并培训出250位志愿者，其中10位已经掌握了3D设计技术。联合国发展计划已经认可了这个组织的工作。

The school Gyam Dorlgyee attends in Qumarleb county in Qinghai province’s Yushu prefecture had contacted me, since I’ve run a volunteer initiative in the community for eight years, to see if we could “help” him.

Gyam Dorlgyee就读的学校位于青海省玉树藏族自治州，而我已经在这里开展义务工作八年。学校联系我，问我能否提供经济上的支援。

They meant financially. They’d also never considered a prosthetic.

不过学校从未考虑过为孩子安装义肢。

Neither had I. But their request came around the time I’d learned of Hands On.

我之前也没想过这点，但当时正赶上我知道了Hands On组织的工作。

The school also asked if we could assist another boy, who needed a wheelchair that would operate better off-road, since the isolated population lives on undulating grasslands.

学校还询问我们可否帮助另一个男孩。当地地势起伏不平，他需要更好的轮椅。

Rain often melts the earth into goopy slop, making it virtually impossible to use a conventional wheelchair in many places. And even the dry ground is uneven.

雨天的土地泥泞不堪，传统轮椅在很多地方都受限，干燥的地面也坑洼不平。

“I can go places I couldn’t before,” 11-year-old Gyebmai Tsering says.

11岁的Gyebmai Tsering说：“（有了新轮椅）我可以去之前去不了的地方。” 

He was paralyzed by a botched operation at age 5. His father abandoned the family of six soon after.

5岁时一次失败的手术导致他瘫痪。他的父亲很快就抛弃了这个六口之家。

“My mother’s meager income from doing odd jobs couldn’t pay for a wheelchair like this. She always regretted that she couldn’t get one for me. I’m not only happy for me but also to see her smile,” he says.

“妈妈打工挣钱少，不能给我买到合适的轮椅，她总是自责。我（有了新轮椅）很高兴，也很开心能看到她的笑脸。” 

“I stay positive and hard-working, despite all the hardships.”

“尽管很艰难，但我一直乐观刻苦。”

His teacher confirms his scores are the best in his class. He’s also the class monitor.

Gyebmai Tsering的老师表示，他的成绩是班级最佳。这孩子还是班长。

Indeed, the boys’ situations highlight the additional challenges that come with living with a disability in rural areas, particularly in extreme environments.

这孩子的情况凸显出残疾人在农村地区，特别是极端环境下面临的更多挑战。

Their far-flung settlements are located in the “planet’s third pole” on the “roof of the world”, where yak and sheep herding — physically intensive jobs — are the source of livelihood for the overwhelming majority of residents.

这些孩子住在“世界屋脊”的“地球第三极”。多数居民靠放牧牦牛和羊这种劳动密集型工作过活。

I’ve witnessed China’s poverty-alleviation miracle firsthand while traveling to often-remote locations throughout the country over the past 13 years.

过去的13年间，我在中国不同地区亲眼见证了居民脱贫的奇迹。

And I’ve discovered that, often, those who remain in poverty in communities where most people have overcome it live with disabilities or chronic diseases, or are elderly.

我也发现，在多数居民脱贫后，残疾人、慢性病患者和老人经常依然贫困。

Enabling people with disabilities to overcome financial hardship and other quality-of-life challenges has become a final frontier as China makes its last dash across the finish line to eliminate extreme poverty by 2020.

中国将在2020年消除极端贫困，帮助残疾人克服经济困难和其它挑战已成为政府的最后阵地。

Support from all sectors of society can transform the lives of all people with disabilities, including those who live in especially challenging environments like the plateau.

社会各界的帮助能转变所有残疾人的命运，特别是那些生活在西藏等极端环境下的残疾人。

The things we accomplish together may be things we never imagined, just like Gyam Dorlgyee, his family, school, volunteers and I had never imagined the possibility of the boy using a prosthetic hand — that is, until we made it happen.

在此之前，我们也许从未想过能共同完成这些事，就像Gyam Dorlgyee和他的家人、学校、志愿者以及我本人都从未想过，这个孩子能装上义肢。