Evelyn Shih, 22, has learned how to be a waitress. In perfect English, she explains the menu and takes orders while her colleagues are serving drinks, wiping tables and unpacking supplies. 'I have learned how to use the telephone and meet the public. It has helped my confidence working here and at the Hong Chi Association. I have Down's syndrome,' said Shih, who comes to the restaurant on her days off from Hong Chi's Tai Po headquarters, where many young people with mental disabilities are taught skills in restaurants or hotels to help them get jobs in catering. The Hong Chi YWCA Garden View Lounge restaurant - which is run by the association in the YWCA building in Macdonnell Road, Central - allows the trainees to gain experience serving the public, backed up with the support of volunteers. But the lease on the restaurant, which opened in August 2004, expires at the end of March, and Shih's mother, Sonja Shih Chan Seung-yan - one of the volunteers - is keen to find new premises. 'The YWCA has been very kind, providing a low rent since 2004, but due to differences about the conditions of the new lease, we will be looking for somewhere new,' she said.