This is a story that tugs at my heart.
My name is Zee and I live in Israel on a suburb on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

At the time I was the owner of a coffee bar in a shopping centre. Being in an isle; I was positioned so I was always aware of the comings and goings in the centre.

One day I looked up and saw a young man at the top of the escalator looking confused. Eventually he came down an at the bottom of the escalator he physically pointed forward and then to the left and right before he decided what would be his next move. At that point there were tears streaming down my face. I pulled at my husband’s sleeve and said “Nobody in the world deserves to be so alone.”

I found out that he lived in protected accommodation and I phoned the institution and asked if he would like to work with me.

The workers were thrilled at my suggestion and came to check us out and sent him with a social worker to a job interview. Twi was twenty-eight years old; of Russian descent: spoke English; Hebrew and Russian and was regarded as being retarded. I saw before me a wonderful young man and he began working with us.

At first the community was suspicious but as they got to know him more and more people came to admire him.

One day another worker of ours girlfriend came and greeted her boyfriend with a kiss. He looked at her wistfully and said "For a kiss like that I would take the stars down from the sky.”

Two more of his friends approached us an informed us that unless we employed them as well they would go on strike.

It took a while for them to persuade the social workers to ask us if we were willing to employ them as well.

Eden was the Israeli Judo champion (Special needs Society) and Ami was Down’s Syndrome.

Ami’s social skills were poor when he came to work with us. He was incredibly shy and used to blush bring red every time a customer spoke to him. He was loyal and very persistent.

Ami had a superb memory. His memory for geography was phenomenal therefore he could tell the most interesting stories about travelling overseas. He was interested in cars and could tell you all the makes that were ever manufactured.

After the first year he went on holiday and on his return he was in a highly agitated state and bright red. He then blurted out “You know that nobody ever took me back to work for them after a year!”

I felt privileged to be able to make these people a part of my life and involve them in the community