The graduates of Essence group November 2003 decided to execute a very special project at Shaul Village.

Shaul Village is a Psychiatric hospital located in Jerusalem.
The hospital shelters about 200 patients in various wards.The Essence graduates chose to renovate the closed courtyard in addition to organizing a fun day at the hospital for the patients and their families.

The ward shelters people who have undergone irreversible damage due to misuse of various hard drugs. The patients are dangerous to themselves and to their surroundings. The only area that they can go outside and breathe some fresh air is at the closed courtyard.

When the graduates visited the courtyard for the first time, they found it to be empty and grossly neglected - and in Jerusalem winters, only one day of rain was enough prevent the patients from going out an entire week, as the courtyard would turn into a mud yard.

The graduates took it upon themselves to renovate the courtyard.They paved walkways, installed benches for sitting areas, and planted trees and shrubs.

This particular project was quite different form past projects.It spanned a longer period of time and was technically difficult to execute, not to mention the dealing with a type of population that most of us find repelling. However the project was definitely well worthwhile as the patients will enjoy the fruits of the graduates' efforts for a long time.

From the beginning, it was decided to first renovate the courtyard and only then execute the fun-day in order for everybody to see and enjoy the overhauled courtyard. The renovation took longer than originally planned, and the fun-day was finally held on 16 March 2004 (23 Adar).