Beirut cafe celebrates World Down Syndrome Day against the odds

The Agonista cafe has given hope for employees with Down syndrome

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Weaving her way through the crowded Beirut cafe as staff and customers mingle, Maria Younes serves a coffee before skipping back to the counter of Agonista.

“I love my work – working here gives me life,” she told The National.

Ms Younes celebrated World Down syndrome Day at a cafe in Lebanon where the majority of staff, like herself, have conditions such as Down syndrome.

“I don’t care about the money, it’s just because I love being here – it allows me to show what I can do,” she said.

Wassim El Hage opened Agonista cafe in the city centre mall in December last year following the success in 2018 of the first branch in Zalqa, a town 15 minutes north of the capital.

Mr El Hage, a physiotherapist who works with people with disabilities, originally named the cafe Agonist. It is the term used when two muscles in the body, one weak and one strong, work together to create an action, reaction or movement.

“Everything that works or acts together in the same direction, we call them agonist,” Mr El Hage said.

As percussion and tambourines rang out from the cafe, people who came to the mall to shop gathered to watch the party.

Emma Khoury, 27, has a relative with Down syndrome and appreciated how thoughtful the event was and how happy the environment is at Agonista.

She said working at the cafe and dealing with the public every day was not only good for the staff, but a benefit for the customers, too.

Charity funding crisis

Despite the positive atmosphere, Mr El Hage said it would be impossible to keep the cafes open throughout the economic crisis in Lebanon without grant money.

“I’m really proud that we have been able to stay open and sustain them until now … but without this funding for sure we were being forced to close,” he said.

The new cafe was opened after an application to a Beirut- based accelerator programme.

Barista manager Rawad Khoury has been working at Agonista for six months and said it has been “the most easy job” thanks to the people he gets to work with.

“There’s people here who you can love with all your heart and all your mind. You find your peace and your ability to work here,” he said.

Mr El Hage hopes the cafes will never have to close, otherwise the 12 people he employs with disabilities, including eight who have Down syndrome, would be out of work.

All of his employees are trained specifically to work in the Agonista cafes and, as Mr El Hage said, there is a lack of opportunities in Lebanon for them to train in other fields.

“There are too many people that need to work, they want to work and they can work, but no one is giving them the opportunity,” he said.

Having co-organised the event, Lebanese Down syndrome Association president Naima Younes said Agonista gives people with Down syndrome the chance to work and socialise.

Changing perceptions

“It’s very important for them to leave the house and feel like they have income and are helping their family,” Ms Younes said.

With small adjustments to the working environment and some training, people with Down syndrome can work anywhere, given the chance, Mr El Hage said.

“There needs to be more belief in their capabilities from the community [and] a change in perception towards people with disabilities.”

Law 220 is the only law in Lebanon related to the rights of people with disabilities, but the section that requires companies to have a 3 per cent quota of employees with a disability is not enforced.

Grace Khawam, whose nine-year-old daughter has Down syndrome, said Agonista cafe is a good starting point, but it is “not enough”.

Ms Khawam, a leading member of the Disability Hub in Lebanon along with orgnisations ProAbled and Tripulley, is also studying for a doctorate on employment and job readiness for people with intellectual disability.

“For my daughter, I would just encourage her to do whatever she wants to be doing, and where her interests are, maybe she doesn’t want to work at a cafe,” Ms Khawam said.

“Why not have the proper training and support for her to work wherever she wants to work?”

As part of her studies for her degree, Ms Khawam worked with four people with Down syndrome who now have one-year contracts at companies including Exotica, a luxury flower and plant chain, the Bossa Nova Hotel, and Cat and Mouth, a catering company.

For Georges Gerge, 27, being a waiter at Agonista for the last four years makes him happy.

“People love me here, the cafe is full all day, and I love to serve people,” Mr Gerge said.