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When it comes to friendship, age isn’t a determining factor, nor does species matter. Meeting a kindred spirit who understands you and helps get you through the ups and downs of life is imperative at any juncture in life. Meet these incredible best buds who not only support one another, but make the world a better place just by their mere existence.
1. JIA HAIXIA AND JIA WENQI
BACKSTORY: Wenqi is a double amputee with no arms and Haixia is blind. The two have been friends for over 10 years.
FRIENDSHIP BOND: Haixia and Wenqi plant trees together, each one helping the other when he needs it. They don’t have money for saplings so they use tree cuttings. Haixia’s job is to climb trees and get the best cuttings and digs holes to plant them. Wenqui then cares for and waters the saplings.They’ve leased eight acres of land from the government and planted thousands of trees to preserve the natural ecology and protect their village from flooding. The duo
2. MILA AND MARY
BACKSTORY: For almost 40 years, Mila the elephant led a sheltered life in captivity with zero interaction with other elephants. Last year, the sensitive elephant was moved to the San Diego Zoo from New Zealand where, for the first time, she met another one of her kind.
FRIENDSHIP BOND: The zookeepers prepped for the worse, but the two elephants hit it off smashingly with sweet gestures of trunk-holding friendship. This is a great first step for Mila as she integrates into a herd.
3. ERLING AND EMMETT
BACK STORY: These chums were next-door neighbors and first gained media attention when 90-year old Erling and 4-year old Emmett held lawn mower races and backyard croquet matches.
FRIENDSHIP BOND: As of last year, Erling settled into a retirement community and Emmet’s family moved out of the neighborhood, but the two still make it a point to hang out. Emmet attended Erling’s birthday party and gave his 90-year old friend a special gift - both he and Erling have a matching set of dog tags engraved with "Emmett & Erling" and "Friends Forever" in Norwegian, which Erling learned as a boy.
4. ZAC AND VINCENT
BACK STORY: These two first graders are best friends. When Zac was diagnosed with cancer and had to undergo chemotherapy treatments, Vincent decided that he wanted to do something to help his pal out.
FRIENDSHIP BOND: Vincent surprised Zac by shaving his head in order to “make Zac feel like he isn’t the only one without hair.” Young Vincent also raised money for his buddy to help his family with hospital bills.
