Paul Calvert spoke with Abigail, the promotions director from Lifeline for the Old

Lifeline for the Old is a non-profit organisation empowering and supporting over 300 elderly and disabled Jerusalem residents on a daily basis. Having just celebrated 50 years of championing the cause of the elderly poor through offering daily activity in artistic workshops alongside a range of much-needed financial benefits, they are proving that needy seniors can become productive members of society, if given the right conditions to succeed. Paul Calvert spoke with Abigail, the promotions director, from Lifeline for the Old.

Paul: What is Lifeline for the Old?

Abigail: Lifeline for the Old is a wonderful Jerusalem organisation that takes the neediest of the elderly in the city and gives them a reason to get up in the morning and a purpose in life. It gives them creative work opportunities in artistic studios and also helps them financially and socially.

Paul: You have a huge building and premises, when was it started and why was it started?

Abigail: We actually started back in 1962 when Jerusalem was very different. Right now we are in a very central location, right across from city hall, just five minutes from the walls of the Old City. In 1962, although our location was still in the same situation, it was very different because we were in a divided Jerusalem. We were on the border and so the area was extremely dangerous because it was right on the front line and very poor.

The story begins with a school teacher called Myriam Mendilow who was inspired by the fact that the junior high school students she was teaching were treating the elderly all around them with disrespect. They weren't treating them the way she wanted them to be treated. She was also appalled that the elderly were sitting on the street here in Jerusalem begging. She felt that was a terrible situation and felt that she could help them financially, but more importantly than just the money, to rediscover their self respect and self worth.

She opened the first Yad LaKashish workshop, which was a book bindery with just six elderly men from the street, who she persuaded to come in. Fifty years later we have almost 300 people and what started as a book bindery is still going, but has grown to include many other artistic workshops.

Paul: How many elderly people do you support here and what sort of background do they come from?

Abigail: We have almost 300 people who come every weekday of the year. They are almost all immigrants to Israel; most of them from the former Soviet Unions. They are Russian speaking; from Ethiopia; from South America and a few from Iran and other countries. Their professional backgrounds are very different. We have people who are former paediatricians; we have piano tuners, mechanics, engineers, teachers and house wives. They have a whole range of previous occupations. What unites them now is unfortunately they are all in a very bad financial situation because they immigrated to Israel about retirement age and whatever money they may have had when they came is no longer usable. They find themselves in a new country and don't speak Hebrew, so it is difficult to communicate; they are retired already so are unable to find a job and they have very little money. Those are the people we are helping here at Lifeline for the Old.

Paul: What things do you do here?

Abigail: The workshops that we have include metal work, the book bindery; recycle paper making, paper mache, ceramics, silk painting, textiles, knitting and toy making. There are a whole range of workshops.

Paul: Can anyone do those different subjects?

Abigail: Absolutely, our founder had a saying that if someone only has one finger, I will put that finger to work. That is really what we believe. Unfortunately we are not miracle workers, so we cannot give someone back a physical ability they don't have. If people are legally blind we can't give them back the eye sight they may have once had, but we believe whatever physical disabilities people come with, even if they feel they don't have particular artistic skills, everyone has something to contribute and everyone has a way of getting involved. Everyone has a right to feel valued and to have their own particular talent and skills used for the benefit of everybody.

Paul: Do you have many disabled people here and is it easy to fit them in to the work?