Miriam, married with 4 children from Beit Shemesh

Today: a program coordinator for children at risk at the community center in Beit Shemesh

“For the first time, I’m following something through and not giving up before I completely finish it. I’ve proved to myself that I’m capable of carrying out my decisions and taking responsibility for my life. The process helped me understand that it doesn’t matter how bad the things I experienced in my life are because they won’t get me down – on the contrary. I’m able to channel them to a place of strength and power, to empower myself.”

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Miriam came to the employment program after not working for years on any permanent basis since her children were born. In light of the financial hardships at home, and out of a desire to find a job, she joined the Employment Empowerment program.

In the past, Miriam had difficulty completing things. Because her life was complicated as a teenager, she didn’t finish her matriculation exams and later never acquired a true profession. She also believed that she would not complete the employment program because so many things in her life remained unsettled..

In the program, Miriam received a stable place where, every week, she could remove more defenses, acknowledge her strengths, and understand who she is. She became stronger, while acquiring emotional and practical tools for coping with the job market.

In the course of the program, Miriam formulated her employment dream: to work with youth at risk. Miriam felt a connection with that because of her own experiences as a teen. While looking for a job, she began working temporarily as a cleaning lady. Miriam: “I still didn’t have a job, so I became a cleaning lady. I had to put my comfort aside and take any job that was available, to start somewhere. That job was not at all easy, but I knew and believed, thanks to the process, that I would eventually get to the right place.”

To enable her to look for a job and start working, Miriam received funding from the program to help her place her youngest daughter in a home-based daycare facility, thereby freeing up her time.

And that’s how Miriam was able to approach some workplaces that suited the employment goals she had set for herself. She presented herself with confidence and submitted her resume. At a spontaneous interview held at one of the places, they were very impressed with her and subsequently offered her a job as a coordinator of a program for children at risk at the community center in Beit Shemesh.

Miriam adds: “Thanks to Be-Atzmi, I clung to the hope that at the age of 39, with four children and no degree, that I too had a future. Today, I am maximizing all the abilities that I listed as potential ones during the process I underwent. I’m fulfilling my employment goal!”

“When we go to the supermarket, my daughter says to me: ‘Mom! You walk differently. You hold your head up high ever since you started the new job!’ My spouse also perceives me in a different light – the light that I shine on myself. This is a message to children that it’s never too late to make a change. A message about the importance of studying and having an occupation. A message that transforms the atmosphere of misery and feeling stuck into one of action, change and growth.”