“She said there is a beautiful place where people can find happiness.” Adam finds out the story behind a creative Central Saanich woman who has been striving to inspire joy in others for decades.
If you ask Aviv Dekel why she’s riding her mobility scooter while wearing rainbow-coloured leggings and a pink unicorn hat, she’ll smile wide and proclaim, “Happy!”
Aviv’s mom, Miki Dekel, says her daughter (who was born with Down syndrome) is in the midst of a joyful journey that began when she was a child.
“[Aviv] said there was a really beautiful place she could go that was just over the rainbow,” Miki says. “And that’s where people could find happiness.”
Before Aviv could articulate that with words, Aviv was a four-year-old who tried to express it by covering the inside of an empty kitchen cupboard with coloured crayon.
Source: Professional artist with Down syndrome strives to inspire joy from Central Saanich