Meet the Chinese woman who battled the desert with an American's help

When Yin Yuzhen finally reunited with Robert Sakolsky, she burst into tears.

On Sunday, Yin, a Chinese woman who spent four decades battling desertification in the Mu Us Desert, reconnected with an American teacher she had spent 26 years searching for, at Ordos Ejin Horo International Airport in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

In 1999, Sakolsky, a history teacher from Pittsburgh, came to China to teach English at the Luoyang Foreign Language School in Henan Province.

While still in China, he came across a TV program that introduced Yin's efforts to turn the desert green by planting trees.

Deeply moved by her mission, Sakolsky decided to help in his own way.

He reached out to organizations back in the United States and raised $5,000 to support her cause.

He then visited Yin's home in 2000, and was shocked by what he saw: no machines, only the most basic tools, such as iron shovels and carrying poles.

At that moment, a friendship that has spanned decades and transcended national borders was planted.

Yin's decision to turn desert into forest In 1985, the 19-year-old Yin Yuzhen moved from Shaanxi Province to Wushen Banner in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, to marry.

She did not anticipate the harsh realities of her new home – a barren desert stretching to no end and a house half-buried in the sand.

The environment challenged the possibility of survival.

Strong winds blew sand into her dwelling, coating everything in a thick layer overnight.

Sand would also pile up against the door, sometimes sealing it shut and leaving her in constant fear that her home and her life would be swallowed by the desert.

But Yin did not give in.