The Lebanese Woman During the War Years

It is a source of pleasure and satisfaction for one to write a report on works of charity and mercy. I should like to praise the true hospitality and kindly friendship shown by the ladies of Lebanon to the British, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers and the other Allied soldiers who came to the hills and valleys of Lebanon during the war years. The works I shall mention below are those in which I myself took part; what I say, therefore, is not reported from any other person.

In 1942 a project was proposed for the hospitality of the Allied forces, by receiving their men in homes and houses. This proposal met with acceptance and approval, and a fine group of ladies, most of them Lebanese, undertook to carry it out. Two of these ladies spent a large part of their time supervising the management of the project. It is worth mentioning that the satisfaction was mutual, for the ladies would receive those men with pleasure and cheerfulness, while the soldiers accepted the invitations with great gratitude, since they would forget the soldier's life that had taken them far from their homes and enjoy for a while the warmth of a family atmosphere.

For more than five years the working meetings of the Red Cross were held twice a week in our house, and the Lebanese ladies formed the majority at these meetings; often they would do additional work for this purpose in their own homes when the demand for certain articles was heavy.

I could always count on my request being answered whenever an urgent need arose, for the volunteers for the work were a company of women who had devoted their free hours to performing the required service. In addition to the meetings held in Beirut, other branches were formed during the summer seasons in Bhamdoun and at Bhamdoun station. A group for hand-knitting work was also formed in the early days of the war. The money for buying the wool was collected from donations and from the British Royal Air Force. A large number of ladies gathered one day to knit at the home of the wife of the American Consul, and another large number of excellent ladies gathered for the same purpose at the home of one of them in Tripoli.

The other kind of notable service performed by the ladies of Lebanon was the provision of canteens at the Young Men's Christian Association center attached to the Church of Scotland hostel, at the army transport center, and elsewhere. A number of Lebanese ladies also joined other ladies in visiting the sick in the military hospitals. Choirs were organized to sing carols on Christmas nights in these hospitals. I can testify how deep an effect these works had on the souls of the wounded and sick soldiers, especially in such seasons. The Lebanese ladies also took part in making sweets and distributing them to the sick in the hospitals. And Her Ladyship the First Lady of Lebanon, wife of His Excellency Sheikh Beshara El-Khouri, would follow these with large quantities of oranges at Christmastime.

Thus, on the whole, friendly relations between soldiers and civilians were the best that could be, and it is an honor for me to thank the men and women of Lebanon for the inherited Arab hospitality they showed toward the soldiers of the Allies during the war years.