| STATUS | Married with 6 children |
| WORK | Tour guide at Dialogue in the Dark and Na’lagaat; two blind experience Centres |
| EDUCATION | Certificate in Massage Therapy and studies Jewish texts regularly |
| PARTNER | Nike – female Yellow Labrador |
Avi came to Israel at the age of 8 from Ethiopia. At 12 he was diagnosed with glaucoma and at 19 he lost his eyesight completely.
Today he is married with 7 children and as well as working as a tour guide and lecturer on disabilities is an accomplished marathon runner. He has run the London marathon twice now, in 2019 and 2021. He has also run in the Abu Dhabi marathon that took place in December 2021. Avi can run a marathon in around 3 hours or less.
Avi was one of the first clients to receive his dog at the Centre after the pandemic lockdown of 2020. He said, “I’m very happy and relieved to be here to partner with Nike since for my work I have to travel all over Israel by public transport. When the Coronavirus pandemic started, I had to stop travelling and continued my lecturing via Zoom.”
Nike has allowed Avi the independence he needs to travel across Israel whenever he wants to.
Nike and I will do very well together. She will help make my dreams come true.
A full guide dog partnership costs the Israel Guide Dog Centre £40,000 and our clients nothing, as we give them this service free of charge. To help us provide more trained guide dogs for people like Avi please donate today.
To learn more about what you can do, you can give us a call on
020 8090 3455 or you can email us at info@israelguidedog.org.uk