"I want to work to support my family ... I am able and willing"

With eyes filled with love, passion and gratitude, Rami, a 36-year-old with Down syndrome, describes the motive behind his work at the Attico Fakhreddin AlQasr Hotel, "I want to work to support my family ... I am able and willing."

With a smile from cheek to cheek, Rami continues "I work in the kitchen; I wash dishes, I mop the floor and I help in preparing food ... every day I wake up early, wash up and have breakfast and go to work."

While Rami works at the hotel only three days a week, he volunteers the rest of the week at the Association of Parents and Friends of Special Needs in Jabal Al Hussein.

Rami's mother describes how difficult the first few years of her son's life were.  "Thirty-six years ago we did not know what Down Syndrome meant."  Noone was around to help me understand.  Rami's father and I raised him like we raised his siblings." 

Like many parents of children with disabilities, they faced a lot of challenges which makes them all the more proud of his love, dedication and success. 

"People around me were surprised ... they did not believe that Rami was working and on top of that, that he was given social security and health insurance."